It is rightly said that the binding together of people in friendship helps each other define and realise a meaningful life.
Authenticity, honesty and trust are such qualities which flourish the essence of finding a true friend. The bond of friendship expands the concept of human chain. But the same human chain networks malignantly on the evils of human trafficking; where a person is deprived of a soulful life.
Human trafficking is the third largest organised crime after drugs and the arms trade across the globe. Human trafficking is a multi-faceted threat. It robs people of their right of freedom. It is inhuman .The victims end devastated, demoralised and defeated. Those that suffer physical and emotional abuse and rape may never be able to live normal lives again. Those that are threatened live in constant fear and end being psychologically compromised.
India has become a source destination and transit country for men, women and children trafficked for forced labour and commercial sexual exploitation. India has become a hub for human trafficking with estimated millions having fallen victim to human trafficking in the whole Asia.
Close to 80 per cent of the trafficking across the world is done for sexual exploitation and the rest is for bonded labour. As per the statistics of the Government, in every eight minutes, a child goes missing in our country.
Children are subject to involuntary servitude as factory workers, domestic servants, beggars, agricultural workers and many times they are also sexually abused by their owners. No crime can be worse than this.
As per the data from Union Home Ministry, 1,379 cases of human trafficking were reported from Karnataka in the period of four years, in Tamil Nadu the number is 2,244 whereas Andhra Pradesh has 2,157 cases of human trafficking. Delhi is the hotspot for illegal trade of young girls for domestic labour, forced marriage and prostitution. It has been seen that social inequality, regional gender preference, imbalance and corruption are the leading causes of human trafficking in India.
It is believed that the numbers recorded by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) are a far cry to actual incidences of trafficking as many cases went unreported with many people still unaware of the crime or lacking confidence to seek the help of the administration.
In developed nations, traffickers rely on psychological methods rather than blatant physical force or coercion — sometimes first initiating what seems to be a relationship with their victim. The commonness of this issue increases in those countries where the culture regards this issue differently and where the law hardly acts as a buffer between traffickers and their victims. Trafficking in India has not provoked any outrage. But digging deeper and looking beyond the surface of this= issue, one can see that some measures have been put in place in an attempt to combat this grave issue.
Concerns are lot regarding ensuring the anti-trafficking fund for the welfare and rehabilitation of victims but the sorry fact is that they might face the same fate as the Nirbhaya Fund, launched in 2013 to improve women’s safety, but is largely under-utilised.
There is a concept of ‘Ubuntu’ in Africa which means: “I am because we are”. If this can be a worldwide and strong message for all generations to come then the human chain can expand its bond of friendship and think of securing a happy life for another person in distress and agony.
Human beings should develop their emotional support for others and stand at the difficult times those who need them in gifting them a dignified life. All cynicism and hopelessness can be eradicated by reforming the legal system in order to enhance prosecution of traffickers and better protection of victims, providing accessible aftercare and treatment for survivors. Most of all, by spreading awareness on the issue, it is expected to make an impact on the global commitment on the part of individuals to treat other people ethically and to see a better future for those suffering people who are trafficked.
(Dr Das writes articles on issues of gender equality and women’s issues in national and international dailies. She is director, leadership and Communication of Sustainability Foundation and can be mailed at Subhashree.das1201@gmail.com. )