Stringent checks needed to curb human trafficking

Bharat H Desai

Jawaharlal Nehru Chair & Professor of International Law, JNU

The menace of global human trafficking has come to the fore after a family of four from Gujarat perished on January 19 in extremely cold weather near Manitoba on the Canadian border. Their tragic end came while trying to enter the US illegally after their long travel from Dingucha village of Gandhinagar district near Ahmedabad. They embarked on a dangerous route with the help of a well-organised human trafficking racket that operates in many Indian states.

The Manitoba incident did not cause much ripples in India. However, it has caused great concern both in Canada and the US as they routinely face a steady tide of human trafficking. The victims of this pernicious trade are helpless people who choose to leave for a better life akin to migration of wildlife across borders when the habitat cannot sustain them. This sordid practice graphically shows that the human traffickers do not go ‘hungry’ since there is greed to go abroad anyhow. Why has it not caused any revulsion among the people and consternation among the Indian policy-makers?

In the backdrop of the Manitoba incident and efforts of people from the disadvantaged sections to enter the US and Europe, in his February 8 address at St. Peter’s Square on International Day of Prayer and Awareness Against Human Trafficking, Pope Francis expressed grave concern at the systematic human trafficking that endangers the lives of scores of people. “This is a deep wound inflicted by the shameful search for gain without any respect for the human person,” the Pope said.

Since early 2020, as many as 124 million people have been globally pushed into extreme poverty by the Covid-19 pandemic. It has left millions vulnerable to human trafficking that takes place for varied reasons including sexual exploitation, forced labour, forced begging and forced marriage. In fact, trafficking in women and girls for sexual exploitation, especially from violence-ridden societies, continues unabated. The echoes from the speech of 2018 Nobel Peace laureate Nadia Murad, a trafficked Yezdi woman, still reverberate across global forums.

Children constitute one-third of trafficked victims. It has tripled in the last 15 years. They are used as forced labour, sex slaves and soldiers. Adults are trafficked for organ harvesting. According to the Global Report on Trafficking in Persons, released in 2021, five adult women and two girls form part of every 10 victims and targeted for sexual exploitation. During 2019, 62% of the victims were trafficked in the US for sexual purposes. Traffickers now use cyber technology to identify, control and exploit people through online platforms for sexual exploitation, forced marriage and other abuses.

To squarely address the global human trade (now the word ‘trafficking’ is used to avoid past memories of the hoary human trade for slavery), the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted resolution 53/111 of December 9, 1998. It established an inter-governmental process for elaborating a comprehensive global convention against transnational organised crime that includes trafficking in women and children and transporting of migrants, including by land, air and sea. It took shape of the UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime (UNTOC) through the UNGA resolution 55/25 of 15 November 2000.

The UNTOC came into force on September 29, 2003. In 2004, in his message to the UN Office of Drugs and Crimes (UNODC, Vienna), then UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan dubbed the global forces that fuel human trafficking as the ‘uncivil society’. “They are terrorists, criminals, drug dealers, traffickers in people…They thrive in countries with weak institutions, and they show no scruple about resorting to intimidation or violence. Their ruthlessness is the very antithesis of all we regard as civil,” Kofi Annan said.

The UNTOC has two protocols that deal with: (i) Trafficking in persons, especially women and children (2000); (ii) Smuggling of migrants by land, sea and air (2000). They form the primary corpus of global instruments to deal with the menace of human trafficking. The trafficking protocol defines it as the “recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons” through illegitimate means, especially for the purposes of sexual exploitation, forced labour, slavery, servitude or the removal of organs.

The trafficking protocol applies to the cases wherein prevention, investigation and prosecution of the transnational offences involve an organised criminal group (Article 4). It also calls upon every State to adopt legislative or other measures that permit trafficking victims to remain in its territory. Similarly, the Smuggling of Migrants Protocol calls upon all the States to take an effective action to prevent and combat the smuggling of migrants by land, sea and air. It has set up the UN Voluntary Trust Fund for victims of trafficking in persons. “We also provide essential support to victims, and bring perpetrators to justice and help empower them,” UNODC Executive Director Ghada Waly said. It led to the Blue Heart global campaign to indicate the “cold-heartedness of those who buy and sell fellow human beings”.

As shown by the tragic incident of a Gujarati family frozen to death in Manitoba, such migrations are illegal in nature and take place through fraudulent travel or identity documents. India has signed the UNTOC on December 12, 2002, and ratified it on May 5, 2011. The Indian declaration to it states that it “shall apply the convention as the legal basis for cooperation on extradition with other States parties to the convention”. It has also undertaken to provide “international cooperation for mutual legal assistance” either through “applicable bilateral agreements” or “on reciprocal basis”. The Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, is the designated ‘Central authority’ for the purpose.

Notwithstanding the imposing corpus of global international legal framework, including Sustainable Development Goals 2030 (Targets 5.2, 8.7 and 16.2) and the Indian undertakings, the menace of human trafficking has assumed alarming proportions. The tragic deaths of victims of human trafficking and smuggling indicate only the tip of the iceberg. Scores of Indians are carted away ostensibly for better prospects by the traffickers who operate under attractive garbs with impunity. India has a good corpus of domestic criminal laws. However, the gravity of human trafficking calls for comprehensive policies, programmes and institutional measures. We need to effectively implement them for preventing and combating trafficking in persons as well as protect the victims, especially women and children.

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