CHILD Protection & Rights > Child Protection Issues.

The Indian situation:

In India, trafficking has been recognized as an organized crime and thus needs a holistic approach for its eradication. The greatest challenge in any plan for intervention is lack of public attention and understanding of the problem and the absence of reliable data on the magnitude of the problem. Even the definition of “trafficking” is still confined to trafficking for prostitution.

India has been identified as a source, transit and destination point in the international circuit. There is some trafficking from India to Gulf States, to South East Asia and some European destinations. India’s porous border with Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh are the major reasons citied for the prevalent high levels of children being trafficked every year.

Large numbers of children are also trafficked within the country. According to a study conducted by the NGO Shakti Vahini in 2006, “Trafficking in India”, 378 of the 593 districts in India are affected by human trafficking. 10% of human trafficking in India is international, while almost 90% is interstate. The problem of trafficking is acute in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

Trafficking and sexual commercial exploitation (For more information read part related to Child Abuse)
Women's rights organizations and NGOs estimate that more than 12,000 and perhaps as many as 50,000 women and children are trafficked into the country annually from neighbouring states for the sex trade.

Girls as young as seven years are trafficked from economically depressed neighborhoods in Nepal and Bangladesh, to the major prostitution centres of Mumbai, Calcutta, and Delhi. Estimates vary, but a safe guess is that several thousand Bangladeshi girls and 5,000 to 7,000 Nepalese girls are trafficked out of the country and primarily to India each year. It is estimated that Nepalese children constitute 20% (40,000) of the estimated 200,000 Nepalese prostitutes in India. In Mumbai, an estimated 90% of sex workers started when they were under 18 years of age; half are from Nepal.

India is also a significant source and transit country. NGOs in the region estimate that some 6,000 to 10,000 girls are trafficked annually from Nepal to Indian brothels and a similar number are trafficked from Bangladesh. 27,000 Bangladeshi women and children have been forced into prostitution in Indian brothels.

Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu are the states from where the maximum numbers of people are trafficked to other states. Intra state/inter district trafficking is high in the states of Rajasthan, Assam, Meghalaya, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. States like Delhi and Goa are ‘receiver’ states. Trafficking of women and children from the North-Eastern states of India and the bordering countries in the north-east is a serious issue but has so far not drawn public attention. There was no evidence of trafficking in Jammu & Kashmir.

Girls are more vulnerable especially to trafficking for sexual purposes. 60% of the estimated 2.3 million women and child commercial sexual workers in India come from Scheduled Castes/Scheduled tribes and according an ILO estimate 15% of them are children.

Trafficking and child workers. (For more information read part related to Child Labour).
Trafficking for labour is the most reported crime against children and takes various forms. Homes in urban areas employ domestic workers, the majority of whom come from West Bengal Bihar, Jharkand; or Orissa. ‘Agents’ provide the links between employers and employees. Many of these children are trafficked or bonded in connivance with their parents.

Besides, it is a well established fact that boys and girls are trafficked for all kinds of labour in agriculture, in mines, in construction, carpet industry, garment industry or in other hazardous conditions, such as handling chemicals, pesticides or operating dangerous machinery. Children are reportedly trafficked into Rajasthan from West Bengal and Bihar as child labour; and to Surat from Rajasthan to work in the diamond cutting industry. In Orissa, trafficking for labour is concentrated in pockets of districts in the coastal areas as reported in the CRSA. The Government of Delhi in 2006 estimated that in Delhi alone there were 700,000 girls working in homes.

Boys are also trafficked to the Middle-East for camel jockeying. The circus industry uses and trains children for performance but also abuse them physically, sexually and mentally.

Trafficking and child marriage. (For more information read the related part on Child Marriage)
Over the last few years, there has been an increase in trafficking of girls for marriage. Due to a demographic imbalance, men find it difficult to find a bride. The easy way out has been through buying brides from other States. In Haryana and Punjab for instance, girls are bought from Assam and other parts of Eastern India for marriage.

There is also an increasing practice of using marriage as a means to traffic girls into prostitution and farm labour.

There is an important lack of data on all these issues and especially on any other forms of Child Trafficking such as child beggars, organs trade, adoption, etc.

For a full analysis of Child Trafficking in India:
- Trafficking in India report. Shakiti Vahini, 2004. Available online: http://www.shaktivahini.org/assets/templates/default/images/traffickingreport.pdf