Human Trafficking in India: Statistics, Reasons and Suggestions

According to a new report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the vast majority of all human trafficking victims – some 71 per cent – are women and girls and one third are children.

Every year millions of women and children are being subjected to trafficking in India. An 80% of the trafficking is for the sexual exploitation and an estimation that 1.2 million children are bought and sold for sexual slavery every year.

The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) said there were 8,132 human trafficking cases last year against 6,877 in 2015, with the highest number of cases reported in West Bengal, followed by Rajasthan in the west.

“But the numbers themselves are far from ground reality. The number of trafficking cases will be many times more than what the data in the (NCRB) report states.”

According to statistics, The exploitation and trafficking mainly include sex tourism, child sex tourism, prostitution and forced marriages.

CHILDREN AND WOMEN TRAFFICKING

About 40 million people were living as modern slaves last year – either trapped in forced labour or forced marriages – says the United Nations International Labour Organization and rights group Walk Free Foundation.

Trafficking of Women and Children

The main reasons for this trafficking are the poverty and debts. Due to these reasons, parents themselves force their children to work in factories, brick kilns, daily wage labour and mechanic shops. There are many factors that are in favor of such violence like few cultural habits, economic injustice, social inequality, poverty, illiteracy and corrupted government and police officials who do not stand against such exploitation.

With the gender discrimination prevalent in almost all parts of India, sexual abuse of women is the major problem and women are the victims every time. Women are the victims of sex trafficking, prostitution practices, forced marriages, forced labour, rape, eve teasing, acid attacks and many more. Rape is another major problem that’s seen to rise rapidly. A girl no matter of her age is being raped in every few minutes. Rape has become so worse that recently, a girl child three months old and a 78 year old woman were brutally raped by middle aged men. Forced marriages have come into picture besides trafficking for prostitution, where there is a shortage for women and even swapping of the wives between brothers is also a serious issue that’s prevalent today in India. The dowry system that’s making the situation even worse for the women to live. Child infanticide is another major issue, where the innocent infants are killed badly and few left to die.

Few brothels and brokers, who buy girl child from their parents and sell them to the prostitution hub and for sex work and make their money out if this exploitation. Trafficked children and women are prone to severe diseases such as HIV, AIDS, cancers and drug abuse, physical injury and many more.

It’s become a serious issue that at least now it is to be strictly identified and such practitioners are to be punished severely. Every child that goes missing is to be found out and investigated as soon as possible.  Police should work sincerely and do their duty. Corrupted government officials need to be traced out and suspended. The government should take serious actions against the culprit so that no women or child in the country should face such abuse in the near future. Every individual must be aware of all the rights and duties, it is the human rights that are getting destroyed in trafficking. Every girl must protect herself, its no one who’s going to come your way and help you out. Know your rights and develop confidence and strength to fight against such evil.

What’s more worse for a girl that even the womb of mother is not safe for her?

Share on:

We believe in sharing knowledge with everyone and making a positive change in society through our work and contributions. If you are interested in joining us, please check our 'About' page for more information