How much longer are we going to turn a blind eye towards the atrocities that are being committed all around us; how much more will they suffer because we are all talk and no actions; how cold have we all become, inquires Abdur Rahman.
“There they stand, helpless and left for death
Closing their eyes, so many days have gone by
Its easy for us to find what’s wrong, yet impossible to find what’s right
They believed in us, they can show us that
Now they can see right through all our empty lies
They won’t stay long in this world so wrong
They say goodbye as we dance with the devil inside”
Children are a source of hope, a ray of light in this ever growing darkness, yet we are intent on pushing them into eternal abyss, why have we forsaken them. We crush their hopes long before they even start dreaming. Child trafficking is a major issue and concern of the South Asian region, one that has been addressed many times yet not much has been done about it.
Every year millions of children from the South Asian region are either abducted or sold to the mafia lobby which then in turn sells them to different parts of the world for various hideous reasons, some common ones being the export of organs, sexual abuse and slavery.
For years these poor children have been a victim of sexual and physical abuse, organ theft, slavery and the worst of our nightmares. Sometime ago UNICEF conducted a study to identify the major reasons as to why this crime has been so elusive and most of the countermeasures taken have not been able to fulfil their purpose so far, especially in the South Asian region. Perhaps if we study these reasons carefully we might be able to come up with more effective countermeasures and remove this threat and create a better world for these children to live in.
Hard to detect trafficking at an early stage:
Human trafficking is an elusive concept because of the variety of forms it can take, the number of actors who may be involved in the process, and the difficulty of detecting it at an early stage. This is often due to the fact that victims have the expectation that traffickers are supporting them and arranging legitimate work for them in another location. The fluidity of trafficking presents a challenge for those who are drafting laws to combat this phenomenon, who need to be both specific and feasible to cover a wide range of situations.
The lack of common definition:
There are also great differences, including as a result of the lack of a common definition among stakeholders regarding the concept of trafficking – including as to whether the consent of the trafficked person is relevant or if coercion, deception, or abuse of power over the trafficked person is a necessary ingredient; and whether a person can be assumed to have been trafficked based on the person’s circumstances, such as involvement in commercial sex work.
The limited consideration of trafficking for the purpose of prostitution:
The national laws vary considerably, though in most cases they are directly linked to trafficking of women and girls for the purposes of prostitution. In this regard, and as indicated earlier, the definition adopted in the SAARC Convention is much narrower than the one that has been set out in the UN Palermo Protocol. In fact, the definition adopted in the Palermo Protocol has made it clear that a person may be trafficked into a variety of harmful circumstances, including forced prostitution, bonded labor, or slavery-like working conditions.
Whereas in South Asia, anti-trafficking laws focus primarily on prostitution, and do not require a separate showing of coercion, deception or other abuse, women and girls engaged in commercial sex work may be presumed to have been trafficked, and may be subject to ‘rescue’, rehabilitation, and where necessary, repatriation to their home countries, regardless of their wishes, or, in the case of children, their best interests. At the same time, the focus of anti-trafficking laws on prostitution may result in all trafficked women being stigmatized as prostitutes. Ironically, this focus on prostitution can obscure the fact that trafficked women and girls frequently are subject to sexual abuse by traffickers, regardless of whether they are trafficked into prostitution. Because they are viewed as immoral, they may run the risk of being sexually abused by law enforcement officers even after they have been ‘rescued’ and placed in ‘safe custody’. Moreover, commitments to protect the human rights of women and girls trafficked into prostitution are more difficult to fulfil when they are treated as criminals under national anti-prostitution laws.
Trafficking and migration, associated challenges:
Trafficking is closely linked to broader migration trends. For example, vulnerable groups – such as young adults, women from ethnic minority and lower caste groups – move to cities and across borders to search for better economic opportunities. They are vulnerable to traffickers who promise them good jobs in another location. However, laws and policies that restrict legal migration – particularly those that restrict women’s migration – can actually increase the vulnerability of women and other groups to trafficking, by compelling them to migrate in a clandestine manner and through illegal routes. As clandestine or illegal migrants, they will increasingly rely on agents who may take advantage of them and force them into trafficked situations.
The lack of a distinct attention to the child’s reality:
While international law and national legal frameworks recognize the different legal status of women and children, their rights and capacities, there is a tendency in many South Asian countries, amongst official authorities in some cases, in others NGOs and women’s rights groups, to group women and children together and in turn dilute the specific attention they may call for.
If distinctions are not carefully drawn between the two groups, these laws may have a disempowering effect on women, for example, by not recognizing their right to make decisions concerning their safety, health, work and location. More importantly, they may undermine respect for legal safeguards for both women and children in terms of counselling, witness protection, legal assistance, as well as of participation in criminal investigations and trials, which may end up being ignored if they are not treated separately within anti-trafficking laws.
The challenges of multiple ages of attainment of majority:
The protection of children under anti-trafficking laws is also complicated by the existence of multiple laws relating to the age of attainment of majority in many countries in the region. Both the new Palermo Protocol and the SAARC Trafficking Convention endorse the approach set forth by the Convention on the Rights of the child to define “children” as any person under 18 years. Yet, the age of majority for various purposes under the laws of Bangladesh, India and Nepal vary quite widely, from seven years (the lowest age of criminal responsibility in Bangladesh) to 21 years (the upper age for guardianship in Bangladesh).18 In India, although the age of majority for the purpose of marriage is 18 for women and 21 for men, the minimum compulsory age of education as well as employment is 14 years.
The status and rights of women and girls:
Neglect of human rights are often associated with trafficking cases – including discriminatory laws and practices that restrict women’s and girl’s access to education, property, inheritance and economic security, as well as their access to inadequate mechanisms in place for registering births and marriages, and preventing forced or coerced marriages.
Economic factors:
South Asian economies are expanding and opening up to international competition. New employment opportunities are being created, especially in the export manufacturing sectors. These new jobs are providing additional income and sources of independence for many young men and women. However, the working conditions in which they function are often quite poor. The reduction in demand in some sectors is resulting in the closure of many factories or retrenchment of workers. The vagaries of the market and liberalization have a dark side, where the lack of job security and adequate safety nets drive many young women who are laid off into seeking jobs in other cities or countries. They are vulnerable to traffickers who may offer quick solutions and lucrative job offers.
The abusive conditions in which trafficked persons typically are forced to work implicitly violate both human rights law and a range of labor standards. The situation in South Asia is complex, as many women and children work in the informal sector, which is not covered by most labor laws or regulations. Migrant workers are particularly vulnerable to trafficking, especially if they are undocumented, which in turn compromises their ability to complain for fear of being arrested and deported.
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