The Hindu : New Delhi News : NGOs express concern over bill on immoral trafficking

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Wednesday, Aug 29, 2007
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New Delhi

NGOs express concern over bill on immoral trafficking

Staff Reporter

It aims to punish traffickers and provides for stringent punishment to offenders

“Lead to loss of bargaining power for sex workers”
“Bill likely to empower police to harass them”

NEW DELHI: The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Amendment Bill, 2006, to be taken up during the ongoing monsoon session of Parliament has evoked concern among non-government organisations and sex workers.

Introduced in Parliament in May last year, the Bill seeks to amend the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956, to combat trafficking and sexual exploitation for commercial purposes. Though amended twice, the Act did not prove to be an effective deterrent.

The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Amendment Bill, 2006, aims to punish traffickers and provides for stringent punishment to offenders. The Bill had already been referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee after being introduced last year. Durbar Mahila Samannwaya Committee and National Aids Control Organisation (NACO) adviser S. Jana, said: “The Minister for Women and Child Development will be taking up the Bill during the monsoon session of Parliament once it is approved by the Cabinet Committee this week. Through the Bill we are looking at several issues such as prosecution of solicitors, imposition of fines on clients and redefining the term ‘trafficking’ among others,” he added.

According to Dr. Jana, the clause for penalising clients would lead to underground prostitution trade resulting in isolation of individual sex workers making them susceptible to violence and exploitation. “Penalising clients would not only mean loss of collective bargaining power for sex workers, but their isolation would also jeopardise the outreach of safe sex practice programmes meant for them,” he added.

“Moreover, by making sex work and trafficking synonymous, the Bill would dis-empower sex workers and instead empower police authorities to harass them,” he said. Sushena Reza-Paul, adviser to Ashodaya Samiti, an organisation of sex workers in Mysore and Mandaya, said: “HIV prevention among sex workers and their clients go hand in hand, benefiting both. However, if the Bill becomes an Act, it would by virtue of penalising male solicitors exclude them from reaping the benefits of HIV prevention programmes undertaken among sex workers.”

“Through penalising of solicitors the Government is just trying to provide a backdoor entry to the mafia and rob the livelihoods of lakhs of women,” she added.

According to Akhila Shivdas, director of the Centre for Advocacy and Research, given the failure of the Government’s past efforts to rehabilitate sex workers, the solution is to leave them to work out its own regulation and not provide legislation for the same.

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