Address child trafficking

(MainsGS2:Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.)

Context:

• The Global Slavery Index 2023 shows the world’s 20 richest countries account for more than half the estimated 50 million people living in ‘modern slavery’

Modern slavery:

• As per the International Labour Organisation (ILO) definition, Child labour is a form of modern slavery which includes any work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that harms their physical or mental development.
• The practice includes, and is not limited to, trafficking, sexual exploitation, debt bondage, and exploitation in armed conflicts. 12% of those in forced labour are possibly children, ILO noted.

Child trafficking:

• Child trafficking manifests in the form of domestic labour, forced child labour across industries, and illegal activities such as begging, organ trade and commercial sex purposes. 
• Several reports since the 2020 lockdown have noted that the pandemic created a second crisis of child trafficking, with children being pushed into a vortex of “despair, disease and death.” 
• Estimates show that children account for one in every three detected victims of trafficking worldwide; this rises to one in two in low-income countries.

Statistics:

• As per data from the latest National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), eight children were trafficked every day in India in 2021 for labour, begging and sexual exploitation 
• These numbers stood at 2,834 cases in 2018; 2,914 in 2019; 2,222 in 2020.
• Out of the total 4,700 people trafficked in 2020, 1,377 were minor boys and 845 were minor girls and 95% of the reported cases in 2019 were of internal trafficking. 
• The sale of children happens across borders too, with key routes being India to Gulf States and South East Asian countries. 
• One such practice happens in the name of ‘khadama’, where girls go to Gulf countries to work as housemaids.

Reasons of trafficking:

• Minor girls in the age bracket 15-18 years are more vulnerable to trafficking, and believed to be in “greater demand” for the sex trade industry and domestic labour. 
• “Poverty, hunger, and lack of work are the main reasons for this. 
• The caste and community-based discrimination and unfair treatment in rural areas are also at the root of this problem.

Conclusion:

• The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime noted in a report outlining COVID’s impact on children.
• Children are at heightened risk of exploitation, especially since school closures during covid times have not only precluded many from access to education but also from a main source of shelter and nourishment.