Child Trafficking In India

Human trafficking is universally recognized as one of the most severe violations of human rights. However, both inside India and in neighboring countries such as Nepal, Bhutan, and Bangladesh, Indian minors are frequently trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation. Some are lured from their villages and towns by false promises of lucrative jobs in cities, while others are kidnapped by traffickers. A large percentage of trafficked boys are sent to work as factory employees, household staff, beggars, and farm laborers. According to activists, many more children are used as child soldiers by rebel or terrorist groups.

The International Labor Organization (ILO) believes that human trafficking is a $150 billion industry, with youngsters accounting for the majority of victims. In the 142 nations questioned in the 2018 version of the biannual Global Report on Trafficking in Persons, children accounted up 30% of all recognized victims of trafficking. Even though UN Sustainable Development Goal 8.7 requires member states to “take immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labor, end modern slavery and human trafficking, secure prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labor, including recruitment and use of child soldiers, and end child labor in all forms by 2025,” this is not the case.

Despite being a signatory to the United Nations Charter, India remains subject to human trafficking. According to the 2018 Global Slavery Index, about 8 million people in India were living in "modern slavery" on any given day in 2016, according to the Australia-based human rights organization The Walk Free Foundation. Forced labor, debt bondage, forced marriage, slavery, and slavery-like activities, as well as human trafficking, are all examples of situations of exploitation that "a person cannot refuse or leave due of threats, violence, compulsion, deceit, and misuse of authority."

By: Samaira Sachdeva
Delhi Public School, Gautam Buddh Nagar