Human trafficking has been a problem in civilization for centuries. It is a national scourge that causes interminable anguish, weakening people's mental and physical health. Growth and growth are concepts that are foreign to their culture. They are subjected to severe discrimination and degrading treatment. It is a significant issue for social justice and human rights in the modern world. Up to 27 million people are reportedly victims of human trafficking worldwide, according to a recent report by the US government. Protecting their fundamental human rights, giving kids an atmosphere that fosters continuous growth, and shielding them from global horrors are all crucial.

The current situation includes several legislation and government initiatives aimed at improving the lives of these individuals, but there are also numerous roadblocks. To give all the victims of human trafficking in the nation a status and to foster their growth and development, it is therefore necessary to create a greater understanding of a problem like this. The study examines the numerous challenges faced by trafficking victims in India, many of whom experience intimidation, shame, difficulty in prosecution, and a significant risk of being victimized again in their own nation. Modern social justice concerns as well as major violations of human rights, including human trafficking.

Humans are traded for a variety of reasons, including sexual exploitation, forced labor, forced prostitution, sexual slavery, etc. In the case of a forced marriage, it may also apply to the spouse of any man or woman. It is a grave offense against people and a breach of their fundamental or most basic human rights. By coercion or commercial exploitation within their own nation, it restricts the citizens' freedom of mobility. Hence, it can happen domestically or even internationally, or transnationally. All people are involved in the trading of human beings, especially women and children.

According to the ILO, among all the victims of human trafficking, child laborers, minorities, and migrants were all subjected to high exploitation and all of them risked the significant danger of continuing to be abused. Smuggling of peoples, in contrast to human trafficking, is an individual who willingly asks or pays someone else to secretly transfer them across an international boundary. It is typically used since those who are smuggled cannot enter the country legally. Consequently, after the smuggled individual enters the nation and reaches his final location, he is free to navigate himself. There is no trickery or coercion involved, even though it might be against the law.

Human trafficking is regarded as a serious problem in India. Even though the nation has several anti-human trafficking laws, the issue still exists. In the nation, people of all sexes are trafficked for a variety of reasons, including prostitution, labour trafficking, and commercial sex demand. In areas where there are a lot of men or where the gender ratio is heavily skewed in favour of men, women and girls are trafficked within their own country. While boys and men are specifically trafficked for bonded labour or labour trafficking. All the victims�men, women, children, etc.�are frequently sexually exploited and forced�against their will�to work as escorts, whores, prostitutes, gigolos, massage therapists, etc.

The trafficking of young girls into prostitution in India is frequently started by women who have already been victims of trafficking. As adults, they can recruit the additional girls by using their local trust and personal connections. Via several anti-trafficking laws, such as the Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act (ITPA), which specifies a sentence ranging from seven years to life in prison, the Government of India punishes human trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation. Several anti-trafficking laws, such as the Bonded Labour Abolition Act, Child Labour Act, and Juvenile Justice Act, among others, forbid forced labour and bonded labour in the nation. Sections 366 (A) and 372 of the Indian Criminal Code (IPC) also allow for the arrest of traffickers. These provisions forbid kidnapping and the sale of minors for prostitution and impose a maximum sentence of 10 years in jail and a fine.

Classifications Of Human Trafficking

1. Sex Trafficking:
   The practice of forcing migrants into sexual acts as a condition for facilitating or arranging their migration is known as sexual trafficking. This kind of trafficking frequently employs coercion, power abuse, deception, and bondage acquired through coerced debt, along with physical or mental exploitation.
    
2. Labour Trafficking:
   The term "labour trafficking" refers to the use of slaves in all forms of labour, including debt slavery, serfdom, work camps, etc. The International Labour Organization (ILO) defines forced labour as an involuntary activity or service that is rendered by the victims under threat of punishment, which includes most tasks that fall under this category. The transfer of workers for the purpose of forced labour or services, including domestic or involuntary servitude, bonded or child labour, is known as labour trafficking. Most frequently, it occurs in the fields of agriculture, industry, construction, household chores, entertainment, etc. But indigenous peoples and migrant workers are particularly vulnerable to becoming victims.
    
3. Organ Trade Trafficking:
   Another form of human trafficking is the trade of organs, which can occur in many ways. In some situations, the victims are compelled to donate their organs, while in others, they agree to sell their organs in exchange for cash or commodities, only to receive little or no payment from the traffickers. There are several instances where victims' bodily parts are removed without their consent, particularly when the victim is under treatment for another medical condition. In this situation, some people are at extremely high risk of exploitation, such as migratory laborers, the illiterate, and the homeless.
    
4. Forced Marriage Trafficking:
   Because forced marriage violates the victims' autonomy and freedom, the United Nations has designated it a violation of human rights. Every person has the freedom to pick their spouse and engage into a marriage freely, according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Roman Catholic Church views forced unions as grounds for annulment, and both parties must freely consent to the union for it to be considered genuine. Human trafficking includes forced marriages. It would be sex trafficking if a woman was forced to get married, moved abroad, and then constantly pressured to have sex with her new spouse.

Issues And Challenges Of Human Trafficking In India

1. Commercial Demand for Sex:
   The nature of sex trafficking is seen as an economic supply by the traffickers, and many abolitionists strive to put an end to it while outlining the negative effects of a demand model. Males request female prostitutes under this demand model, which creates a market for sex workers and ultimately encourages sex trafficking, illegal trade, and the coercion of people into the sex industry. Meanwhile, traffickers and pimps act as distributors and provide a chain of women for sex exploitation.
    
2. Poverty, Globalization and Unemployment:
   Women may migrate voluntarily due to a lack of economic, educational, and social opportunities before becoming involuntarily trafficked for sex work. As globalization has opened the national borders for smooth exchange of goods and services, its economic impact has also pushed peoples especially women and children to migrate and be vulnerable to trafficking. Gender inequality also pushes women to migrate towards informal sector which is more hazardous for them.
    
3. Gender Based Discrimination:
   Sons are traditionally regarded as more valuable, superior, and useful in a family than daughters in our patriarchal society. As a result, girls in this society have little to no access to education, which causes a gender gap in both literacy rates and potential income for boys and girls.
    
4. Urban Policies and Human Rights Violation:
   I believe that the government's terrible urban policies and the victims' violations of their human rights have significantly widened the extent of human trafficking in our nation. For instance, urban apartheid has taken on progressively harsh forms. As a result, it presents difficulties in the country's ongoing battle against poverty and threats to democracy.

Harmful Effects Of Human Trafficking To Civil Society

1. Impact on Women and Children:
   Women and girls are constantly at danger for unintended pregnancies, STDs, HIV/AIDS, maternal mortality, etc. They are also impacted by drugs, dangerous medications, and other addictions that deteriorate their physical and mental health. They also have a threat of emotional well-being like deprivation from their family life, threat to their social support systems, isolations, constant fear of arrests.
    
2. Short Term Impact:
   Impact on the victims of human trafficking which in a psychological manner is totally like a life threating disease for them. The perpetrators often expose them of the high amount of psychological stress which is affected by threats, fear, physical or emotional violence. To convert a victim into a slave and to exploit them sexually, emotionally, verbally, economically, etc., is the main goal of traffickers.
    
3. Long Term Impact:
   All human trafficking victims may experience significant trauma or long-term effects on their bodies. For instance, there are several instances of intimate relationship trauma, such as sexual assault, gang rape, domestic violence, forced prostitution, etc. According to a paper by psychologists, the effects of chronic trauma make complicated trauma more difficult to diagnose.

Measures To Combat Human Trafficking In India

1. Be Specific Regarding the Scope of Human Trafficking:
   Before moving on, I believe that defining and defining the breadth of human trafficking crimes is the most crucial topic that needs to be answered through thorough investigation. With this, we must eliminate all conceptual misunderstandings related to the problem of human trafficking in our nation. Although the topic has already been specified in several agreements, our country's laws are not particularly comprehensive on the subject.
    
2. Judiciary Must be Held Responsible:
   In India, the judiciary functions as an independent, constitutional authority and is seen as the only safeguard against the country's citizens violating our fundamental rights and our human rights laws. The biggest issue with the judiciary, however, is that there aren't enough judges to handle all the cases that come before our courts, which is the fundamental reason why there are so many cases still outstanding.
    
3. Must be Conviction of Traffickers to Deter Others:
   To set an example and discourage other traffickers from engaging in human trafficking and victim exploitation, the alleged human traffickers must be found guilty; otherwise, they will suffer harsh punishments. Also, all alleged human traffickers should be prosecuted based on sufficient legal provisions, which means that accused traffickers should face punishment rather than the victim they are allegedly exploiting.
    
4. Adopt Various Anti Trafficking Initiatives:
   The issue of human trafficking in our nation needs to be addressed right now, either by changing already-taken anti-human initiatives or by implementing new strategies. For instance, corruption, police reforms, the professionalism of police personnel when looking into people trafficking in India, and criminal justice system reform.
    
5. Accept the Human Rights Principles:
   Ratifying international human rights conventions or treaties proposed by the United Nations or any other reputable domestic organization is the most rational and sincere action India can take to prevent human trafficking. The fact that our national laws do not follow the framework of international human rights is a serious issue that we must address. In other words, we lack a strong human rights normative framework to combat human trafficking.

India's problem with human trafficking requires a thorough, all-encompassing approach. The threat of human trafficking in our nation must be addressed with a multifaceted strategy. In addition, efforts should be made to perform a comprehensive process of rehabilitation and reintegration for all human trafficking victims.

Otherwise, addressing the problem effectively over the long term won't be possible, and we'll fail strategically. The main idea of eliminating this problem, in my opinion, won't be successful if the countries themselves don't do their part and there aren't unwavering promises from numerous developed, developing, and other material players to address the negative consequences of human trafficking on the victims.

Hence, this cycle must be followed at every point, from prevention to recruiting, rescue to reintegration, or the provision of transportation for bonded labour. So, without our collective engagement, the anti-trafficking campaigns will essentially have no impact on the victims of human trafficking, and the exploitation of their human rights would continue.

References:

1. https://www.shram.org/uploadFiles/20180319102934.pdf
2. https://wcd.nic.in/sites/default/files/RESEARCH%20PROJECT%20REPORT_0.pdf
3. https://www.ijlmh.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Human-Trafficking-Its-Issues-and-Challenges-in-India-A-Study-from-Human-Rights-Perspective.pdf
4. https://www.academia.edu/41541844/A_STUDY_OF_HUMAN_TRAFFICKING_IN_INDIA_AN_OVERVIEW
5. https://jgu.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/JSIA/Sankalp+Sreenath+-+Human+Trafficking+in+India.pdf
6. https://turcomat.org/index.php/turkbilmat/article/download/12491/9035/22125
7. https://acadpubl.eu/hub/2018-120-5/5/404.pdf
8. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/346880414_HUMAN_TRAFFICKING_IN_INDIA
9.  https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1318860/FULLTEXT01.pdf
10. https://www.unodc.org/southasia/frontpage/2013/Sept/india-from-darjeeling-to-delhi-story-of-a-young-girl-who-was-trafficked.html

Award Winning Article Is Written By: Mr.Astitva Kumar Rao

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