TRAFFICKING OF CHILDREN

TRAFFICKING OF CHILDREN
Submitted to:-

MRS. PRACHI SRIVASTAVA

(Faculty, Child Protection and Juvenile Justice System)

NOIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY

GREATER NOIDA

Submitted by:-
PRATHAM SAXENA
B.B.A.L.L.B. 8TH Semester
Roll no.-LS/BBALLB/1601/008

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Contents

1. What is child trafficking?

2. What the law says about trafficking of children?

3. How many children are affected by child trafficking?

4. Where does child trafficking happen?

5. Purpose of Child Trafficking

6. Child Labour

7. Magnitude of Child Trafficking

8. What efforts have been made to end child trafficking?

9. Bibliography

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Acknowledgement

At the outset, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude and thank my mentor, MRS.
PRACHI SRIVASTAVA, for instilling confidence in me. I am indeed privileged having being
groomed in a prestigious institution like Noida International University. I would also like to
express my gratitude to my friends for their support and help. My gratitude also goes out to the
staff and administration of Noida International University for the library infrastructure and IT
Lab that was a source of great help for the completion of this project.

Pratham Saxena

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What is child trafficking?

Child trafficking can be defined as any person under 18 who is illegally recruited, transported,
transferred, harboured or received by threats, force, and coercion or inducing fear for the purpose
of exploitation, either within or outside a country. Child trafficking is a common malpractice in
India. Child exploitation is done for several reasons. Some of the primary reasons are:

 Sexual exploitation : children, especially girl children are lured into moving to another city
and are forced into prostitution, sex tourism and pornography.

 Illegal activities : kidnapped children are often forced to beg, and sometimes their organs
like kidney etc. are sold. These children are also often used for drug trafficking purposes.

 Labour : children brought into the city are sold as bonded labour to industry owners. They
are often placed at factories of carpet weaving, diamond cuƫng etc.

Young girls are sold to older men who marry these girls or sell them to other men.

According to estimates, every day 3000 children are victims of child trafficking. The profits from
human trafficking, particularly that of women and children, reaches up to 10 billion US dollarsa
year according to estimates made by the International Organization for Migration.

What the law says about trafficking of children?

Indian laws do not have a legal definition of child trafficking. The Immoral traffic (Prevention)
Act deals only with trafficking of minors for prostitution. However, other laws are present which
can assist in child trafficking – Indian Penal Code, Juvenile Justice Act 2000, Andhra Pradesh
Devadasi’s (Prohibition of Dedication) Act, 1988, Bombay Prevention of Begging Act etc.

How many children are affected by child trafficking?

The ILO estimates that 21 million people are trapped in forced labour or slavery. Of those, it
says one in four are under the age of 18.

The estimated number of children trafficked around the world is 5.5 million. They suffer
violence, exploitation and abuse - ending up in work, forced marriage, prostitution, begging and
armed recruitment.

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Where does child trafficking happen?

Every country in the world is affected by human trafficking, whether as a victim’s original
country, somewhere they travelled through or the destination.

According to the UN Office of Drugs and Crime's 2014 global report on trafficking, 62% of all
people trafficked in Africa and the Middle East are children. Other regional figures are 36% in
South Asia, East Asia and the Pacific, 31% in the Americas and 18% in Europe and Central Asia.
Of all people trafficked in 2011, 21% were girls, 12% boys, 49% women and 18% men.

Purpose of Child Trafficking

Human trafficking including child trafficking is a momentous problem all over the world. The
purpose of the same may differ from one country to the other. Trafficking – illegal immigration -
in the case of adults from poor countries to rich countries is a well organisedwell oiled multi-
million dollar business. Besides human trafficking, child trafficking is also a lucrative trade that
maybe undertaken for the following purposes:

 Sexual Exploitation: Children are sexually exploited by forcing them into prostitution
either on the basis their economic status or through religiously sanctioned forms like the
Devadasi System or the Jogini system. There is widespread exploitation of children – both
girls and boys- in tourist centres like Goa, Kerala etc. Besides these forms of exploitation
children are also abused through Pornography, Bride trafficking, Massage parlors, hostess
clubs, brothels, escort services etc. Exotic dancing/stripping of children is also widespread.
 Labour: India has the largest number of child labour in the worldand they form a
substantial part of the Bonded Labour. Children are also employed in domestic work,
restaurants and hotels, farms, construction work, carpet industry, gem stone industry and
other such sites. Child trafficking for child labour has reached menacing proportions. It has
been dealt with later in detail.
 Entertainment and Sports: A large number of children work as child artists inthe
cineworld and circusworkers in the country. These children work for long durations with no
special provisions for their protection. Many such children are forced by their parents and
the commercial bodies to forgo formal studies and work in the glamour world to earn
money. Safeguarding their rights in such conditions is hardly the prerogative of both the
commercial undertakings and the parents of the children as well. Since the children are not
able to voice their views or their views are stifled by their own parents andthey have to
suffer from a loss of childhood. Another trend that has of late started in the country is that of
reality programmes for children where they are forced to bear with unduly high
expectations, unhealthy competition and humiliating behavior of the organizers.

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 Adoption/Laundering/Marriages: Children are trafficked/laundered and abused through

Intra/Inter-Country adoptions and marriages. ‘Child Laundering’ occurs when children are
taken illegally from birth families through child buying or kidnapping and ‘laundered’
through the adoption system as ‘orphans’ and then as ‘adoptees’(Smolin, 2005). The term
‘child laundering’ expresses the claim that the current inter-country adoption system
frequently takes children illegally from birth parents and then uses official processes of the
adoption and legal systems to ‘launder’ them as ‘legally’ adopted children(Smolin, 2005).
Women are forced to give up their children for adoption due to various reasons. There is
documented proof collected by US and Indian sources that point out that in the Indian State
of Andhra Pradesh particularly during 1995-2001 orphanages systematically sent out scouts
to purchase female infants for vulnerable poor families. These children were then laundered
by falsifying documents. Another state Maharashtra having 9% of India’s population
accounts for 40% of India’s Inter-country adoption (Smolin, 2005).

Child laundering for adoption is a profitable business and as the children laundered are too
young to remember they are unlikely to be traced especially if the children are placed overseas
(Smolin, 2005).

 Sundry Activities: The children are being pushed into a number of other sundry
activities that make them vulnerable to exploitation. These activities include Begging;
Organ Trade; Drug Peddling and Smuggling and as Camel Jockeys. There are organized
criminal gangs that traffic children into these activities and exploit them.

Child Labour

A major cause of child trafficking is child labour.Child labour in India as per census 1971 to
census 2001 and shows that the number of child labour has increased from 10.75 million in 1971
to 12.66 million in 2001. As per 2011 census the number of child labour is 4.35 million (Census
Data on Child Labour).Nearly 85% of the child labour in India work largely in the unorganised
sectors in the rural and urban areas within the family or in household units. A large number of
children are also working in the hazardous occupations. According to NSSO estimates in 2004-
2005 the child labour was 9075 thousand and in 2009-2010 it was 4983871(About Child
Labour).

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MAGNITUDE OF CHILD TRAFFICKING

As per the UN office on Drugs and Crime report (2012) the percentage child victims has risen
from the last three years from 20% to 27%. Of every three child victims two are girls and one is
a boy. As per the gender and age profile of victims detected globally 59% are Women, 14% are
Men, 17% are Girls and 10% are Boys. According to an estimate of the US Government 600,000
to 800,000 women children and men are bought and sold across international borders every year
and exploited for forced labour or commercial sex. When internal traffic victims are added to the
estimates, the number of victims annually is in the range of 2 to 4 million. 50% of those victims
are estimated to be children. According to UNICEF an estimated 76% of transactions for sex
with underage girls start on internet.2 million children are subjected to prostitution in the global
commercial sex trade. There are 20.9 million victims of trafficking worldwide as in 2012.

The UN crime-fighting office announced that: 2.4 million people across the globe are victims of
Human Trafficking at any one time and 80% of them are exploited as sex slaves. 17% are
trafficked to perform forced labour, including in homes and sweet shops.32 million dollars are
being earned every year by the unscrupulous criminals running human trafficking networks, and
two out of three victims are women.At any one time 2.4 million people suffer the misery of this
humiliating and degrading crime. Only one out of 100 victims is ever rescued.

Human Trafficking is the third largest profitable industry in the world. It is found in both the
developed and developing countries of the world. India is a source, destination and transit
country for trafficking for many purposes such as commercial sexual exploitation.Majority of
children are trafficked within the country but there are a large number trafficked from Nepal and
Bangladesh (Child Trafficking).

There are no regional or national estimates for number of children trafficked every year but
according to an estimate 40% of prostitutes are children and there is a growing demand for
young girls.NGOs estimate that 12,000 to 50,000 women and children are trafficked into the
country every year from the neighbouring states for sex trade (Child Trafficking). Thousands of
girls trafficked from Nepal and Bangladesh. 2, 00,000 Nepalese girls under 16 years are in
prostitution in India.An estimated 1,000 to 1,500 children are smuggled every year to Saudi
Arabia for begging during Hajj(Child Trafficking).Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, West Bengal and
Tamil Nadu have the largest number of trafficked persons.Inter State / Inter District traffic is
high in Rajasthan, Assam, Meghalaya, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil
Nadu and Maharashtra.Delhi and Goa are the major receivers. Traffic from North East states is
high but often overlooked (Child Trafficking).

Child Trafficking is rising due to demands of live-in maids in urban areas resulting in traffic of
girls from villages in Jharkhand, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh to live in extremely poor
conditions first in “placement agencies”, and then in the employers homes.Placement agencies
keep a large number of girls in small rooms who are made to do house work and are exploited

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sexually.Falling sex ratio in Haryana and Punjab has led to the need of trafficking of young
brides from the villages of Orissa, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Bihar and Assam who are sold off
by their parents(Child Trafficking).

What efforts have been made to end child trafficking?

There are several global initiatives working to tackle the issue. The ILO has a programme called
the International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour that works with governments,
charities and other organisations to fight child trafficking. It helps to protect children at risk,
enforce anti-trafficking laws and assist victims in need.

The UN Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking sees organisations such as the ILO and
UNICEF working together to eradicate child trafficking.

Its mission is to address the many factors that cause child trafficking. These include making
potential victims less vulnerable, ensuring protection to those who fall prey and catching and
prosecuting the criminals involved.

An important part of tackling child trafficking is to make sure there are safe spaces, such as
schools, where children can be protected from harm. In times of upheaval and crisis, education is
a lifeline. Students in school can get safety information, adult supervision and a higher chance of
being identified and documented. Organisations such as Theirworld are committed to helping
provide children in crisis with education.

Bibliography

 https://vikaspedia.in/social-welfare/women-and-child-development/child-development-
1/resources-on-safe-childhood-for-panchayat-members/trafficking-of-children-1
 https://theirworld.org/explainers/child-trafficking
 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/279252583_Understanding_Child_Trafficking_and_it
s_Magnitude
 https://www.humanium.org/en/child-trafficking/

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