What is Trafficking?
ü The Oxford English Dictionary defines, traffic as ‘trade, especially illegal (as in
drugs)’. It has also been described as ‘the transportation of goods, the coming
and going of people or goods by road, rail, air, sea, etc. The word trafficked or
trafficking is described as ‘dealing in something, especially illegally (as in the
case of trafficking narcotics)’.
In India, a large number of children are trafficked not only for the sex ‘trade’ but
also for other forms of non-sex based exploitation that includes servitude of
various kinds, as domestic labour, industrial labour, agricultural labour, begging,
organ trade and false marriage.
Trafficking in children is on rise, and nearly 60% of the victims of trafficking are
below 18 years of age (NCRB, 2005).
According to NHRC Report on Trafficking in Women and Children, in India the
population of women and children in sex work in India is stated to be between
70,000 and 1 million of these, 30% are 20 years of age. Nearly 15% began sex
work when they were below 15 and 25% entered between 15 and 18 years
ü The United Nations estimates that 700,000 to 4 million women and children are trafficked around the world for purposes of forced prostitution, labor and other forms of exploitation every year. Trafficking is estimated to be a $7 billion dollar annual business
ü Victims of trafficking are subject to gross human rights violations including, rape, torture, forced abortions, starvation, and threats of torturing or murdering family members.
ü Nearly every country is involved in the web of trafficking activities, either as a country of origin, destination or transit. Countries of destination include Australia, Brazil, Cambodia, France, India, Israel, Japan, The Netherlands, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, and the United States
ü Traffickers recruit women and children through deceptive means including falsified employment advertisements for domestic workers, waitresses and other low-skilled work. Traffickers include those involved in highly sophisticated networks of organized crime and may be as close to home as a relative to the victim.
ü Traffickers are … family members and friends of the trafficking victim. A six-year-old boy, Mohammad Mamun, was taken from his poor Bangladeshi parents by a neighbor, and ended up in a foreign desert land being exploited as a camel jockey. Mamun is one of hundreds of young Bangladeshi boys who are trafficked into the United Arab Emirates (UAE) either after being abducted or sold by impoverished parents to human traffickers
Close to Home in the USA
ü – 50,000 women and children are trafficked into the United States from no less than 49 countries every year. As many as 750,000 women and children have been trafficked into the United States over the last decade.
ü Women and children as young as 14 have been trafficked from Mexico to Florida and forced to have sex with as many as 130 clients per week in a trailer park. These women were kept hostage through threats and physical abuse, and were beaten and forced to have abortions. One woman was locked in a closet for 15 days after trying to escape.
--Amanda
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