The government and NGOs in Bangladesh are taking human trafficking seriously and have labelled it as a heinous crime against humanity although it is sad that the SAARC resolution to deal with this issue has not been implemented, opined Sigma Huda, Advocate of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh and the first UN Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in persons. Huda said this during the opening of a global webinar on Combat Trafficking of Women and Girls in South Asia which was organised by South Asia Peace Action Network (Sapan) to mark the World Day Against Trafficking on 30th July 2023.

In 1996 the rescue of 238 Nepali girls from Mumbai’s red-light areas made headlines in the Nepali media. Nepali daughters were sent back to Kathmandu from Mumbai brothels, but many were suspected of being infected with HIV AIDS. This incident opened the eyes of the Nepali people and sparked the movement against girls and women trafficking. At that time, there weren’t sufficient laws against human trafficking in Nepal. Now we have laws, several organisations and networks working against human trafficking and Nepal Government is signatory to several UN Conventions and initiations against human trafficking. However, even now, according to recent data from UN and local organisations, around 12,000 to 15,000 girls are trafficked from Nepal every year. Most of them end up in brothels in India, while some go as far as South Korea and South Africa. China, Malaysia Hong Kong and Middle East are other countries where Nepali girls are trafficked to.

The appromimately1,800 km open border between Nepal and India is still known as one of the active human trafficking gateways in the world. In 2019, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) of Nepal estimated that 1.5 million Nepalis are vulnerable to human trafficking. The NHRC research of 2017 mentions that out of 13,600 reported attempts at trafficking victims in Nepal, 98 per cent are females; of 6,200 trafficked persons, upwards of 60 per cent are female, and as many as 50 per cent are below the age of 18. Of the 3,900 untraced persons suspected to have been trafficked, over 70 per cent are girls. This is an indication towards the gendered nature of the problem in which women and children are the prominent victims.

Nepal is a source, transit and destination country for girls, women, boys and men and are subjected to forced labour and sex trafficking. Traffickers target the young poor and traditionally marginalised castes and ethnic minority communities who are mostly deprived from even the basic needs of survival. After the 2015 earthquake in Nepal and the COVID-19 pandemic, girls and women from low-income families have become more vulnerable to trafficking.

Historically, trafficking of humans can be traced back to several centuries. Advocate Sabin Shrestha says that in Nepal the first written law, the Civil Code, was promulgated in 1853. He said there was a chapter written on Human Trafficking on this first Civil Code of Nepal. He said initially the laws were mostly related to prostitution. This shows that human trafficking has existed in the country since centuries ago. While looking at the global trend in human trafficking, in 1912, the police in Hamburg, Germany listed 402 known traders in women thus estimating that trafficking had occurred between the end of 1800s and the beginning of 1900s. The first globally binding legal instrument against trafficking is the UN Convention for Suppression of the Traffick in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others which was adopted in 1949. In 2013 the UN General Assembly designated July 30 as the world Day against Trafficking in Persons.

Although human trafficking is now recognised as a heinous crime all over the world, it is a sad reality that cases are increasing and justice has not been given in the majority of the cases. Globally, the national response, particularly in developing countries, appear to be deteriorating. According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), human trafficking is a $150-billion industry worldwide. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) estimates that 21 million people are victims of forced labor globally. Women and girls make up the majority of these victims, accounting for 71 per cent of all trafficking victims. Detection fell by 11 per cent in 2020 and convictions plummeted by 27 per cent. This indicates bleak global response to availing justice in response to trafficking. There is an estimate that 41 per cent of the victims mange to escape on their own efforts rather than with the support of the international community or their own governments.

“There are problems in enacting international laws when it comes to addressing sex trafficking in Pakistan,” said Mehr Husain, author, publisher and journalist from Lahore Pakistan in the Sapan webinar.

“Human Trafficking is a combination of supply and demand where the supply is caused by the inter-sectionalism of sexism and poverty of the most vulnerable and marginalised females who are preyed upon. The demand is created by the impunity and a culture of masculinity who wants people who are docile and who can be dominated”, said Activist Ruchira Gupta, founder of the survivor organisation NGO Apne Aap in India and author of the just-published novel 'I Kick and I Fly' while addressing the Sapan webinar.

Although laws are promulgated by international bodies and governments all over the world, it is a reality that this serious crime against humanity where girls and women are the majority victims and survivors, needs more attention and advocacy by all, especially the governments and civil society of South Asia. Sapan has brought out a resolution on trafficking of women and girls in South Asia and is working towards a joint effort to implement it.

Published on: 2 August 2023 | The Rising Nepal