Immoral trafficking is a violent assault on human security, and is shockingly widespread. Trafficking of humans involves men, women and children from one place to another, often placing them in conditions of forced labour. The practice commonly includes forced sex work, domestic servitude, unsafe agricultural labour, sweatshop labour, construction of restaurant work and various forms of modern day slavery, even male prostitution has become a new trend today.
Prostitution means sexual exploitation or abuse of persons for commercial purposes and domestic purposes. Human trafficking has emerged as an important transnational, regional and national issue. According to estimates, one to two million people are trafficked each and the majority meaning women and children.
Human trafficking deprives or poses two dimensional threats:
- Deprivation of human rights and freedoms: where the person who is being trafficked is either involved in prostitution, forced marriages being a trend followed since ages. Organ trafficking is another form of human trafficking where the organs of the person are removed illegally from his body and are sold off. We can see young boys being trafficked to the Gulf region as camel jockeys and young girls are put into prostitution.
- Global health and security: it is important to remember that women are twice vulnerable to reproductive and other gender specific health problems in trafficking situations due to very little or lack of access to proper health care.
We see the situation of human trafficking in India, and in our very town Siliguri, one can find that every week 10- 12 children go missing and no one actually knows where they are taken. It may be internationally that they are being transported, and where such things happen internationally it becomes really tough to get them back as it is not possible to look for them. There are several NGO`s and different organizations who are working for the upliftment of women and children and are working on rescue operation of trafficked women and children.
Recently, a young girl was found at a railway station and on being asked about her whereabouts she was unable to explain the police officers, how she reached there. This is what is actually happening. Young girls are being trafficked every now and then and the worst part is that they are unaware of the fact that they are being trafficked.
India share its international border with four countries and the north eastern part is the most prone area for trafficking as the border areas between India- Nepal, Indo-Bangladesh are so porous and any one can enter into India and return back to their own country in the evening.
Question arises as to where do we stand in this 21st century, we say that the world is getting globalised and we are getting modern both by thought and by actions, but the actions of the generations with an increase in the crime rate is showing a different picture today.
