Anti-trafficking and safe migration initiative in South Asia

Pradipna Raj Panta “One of the bottlenecks in South Asia in mainstreaming ICTs in gender is the lack of organisations with technical and management abilities that are dedicated towards working in the areas of knowledge management. Such organisational capability also includes the capability to advocate Clearly the benefits of mainstreaming ICTs in their programme implementation.” Overview of migration and trafficking Human movement between geographical boundaries is increasing by the day, borders are becoming more porous, international travel and trade more accessible and affordable. Research shows that today, one out of every 50 people live outside the country of their birth as refugees, migrants or permanent immigrants. As a consequence, multicultural diversity has become an accepted way of life. While the possibility of the world becoming a global village is a positive development, the dramatic increase in the number of migrants in the last four decades has brought its own share of problems – most specifically the exploitation of illegal immigrants and refugees. This paper documents the status of human trafficking in various countries around South Asia and the concerns that emerge out of the same. Through a special focus on children and women, this paper argues that gender based discrimination plays a major role in both human trafficking and unsafe migration. Therefore, a rights based approach (participation, accountability, nondiscrimination, empowerment and linkage) is essential to provide an enabling environment for women. Illegal migration and human trafficking: underlying issues Assessing and documenting the phenomenon of illegal trafficking is a complex task due to a number of reasons. The available data is often found to be contradictory as different researchers adopt different methodologies of collecting data. While some solely concentrate on traffic across borders, others look at both cross border and domestic trafficking. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has confessed to problems in data aggregation because of the differences in the periods over which data is recorded; some statistics provide information on a yearly basis whereas others measure the number of people trafficked at a particular given time. Difficulties in documentation also arise because of the clandestine nature of the crime. Generally speaking, the issue of commercial sex dominates the debate around trafficking. It has been recognised, though only lately, that apart from the sex trade, women and girls are coerced, tricked and bonded into other occupations as well. Unfortunately, the Convention on Preventing and Combating Trafficking in Women and Children for Prostitution, that was ratified by the South Asian Association for the Regional Cooperation (SAARC) in January 2002; restricted its focus only on prostitution, sexual exploitation, fraudulent and child marriage. The Convention failed to give any recognition to trafficking that is done for other purposes such as domestic work, child jockeying in camel races and organ transfer. The multifarious nature of the problem poses another dilemma in documenting, detecting and deterring trafficking in the region. Trafficking across South Asian countries India In the South Asian region, India is a country of origin, transit and destination for women and children trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation and bonded labour. India has the highest number of child prostitutes. The ILO estimates that 15 per cent of the country’s estimated 2.3 million prostitutes are children. The Human Rights Watch Report 1995 stated that 20 per cent of the brothel population in Mumbai comprised of minors, at least half of whom were HIV positive. The number of bonded labourers in India is estimated to be 5 million. Studies have also revealed that child soldiers are recruited by almost all the militant groups of India. In the Assam Insurgency Group for example, approximately 9 – 10 per cent soldiers are girls, numbering anywhere between three to four thousand with the lowest recorded age being 12 years. Nearly 50 per cent of the combatants in the Bodoland Liberation Tiger Force, the Bodo Security Force and the United Liberation Front of Assam are minors. Sri Lanka In war torn Sri Lanka, the issues of trafficking and prostitution became a subject of political consideration only when human rights organisations from across the world raised a hue and cry over the recruitment of child soldiers. Though such recruitments still take place on a smaller scale, it has been estimated that around 10,000 children aged 6 – 14 are virtually enslaved in brothels and an additional 5000 aged 10-18 are working in hotels and resorts as sex slaves. Pedophilia is very common in Sri Lanka. Foreign tourists can easily meet Sri Lankan boys at the airport itself, from where they are whisked off to a safe place for unnatural sex. Child pornography is another major issue. Most of the 300 hours pornographic videos found in a raid in Stockholm have been filmed in Sri-Lanka. Bangladesh Estimates about the number of children and women trafficked from Bangladesh vary significantly. According to the ILO, “The trafficking of Bangladeshi children is a significant problem. Over the last ten years, 3,397 children were trafficked from Bangladesh, of whom 1,683 were boys, mostly under 10 years of age. The boys are generally trafficked to the Gulf States to act as camel jockeys.” Bangladeshi women are traded mostly in Pakistan. Kolkata serves as an entry point via Meenpur and then the women travel to Delhi-Amrisar and later on to Pakistan, where they can get the citizenship easily. From Pakistan, these women are further made to travel to the Gulf region, where they are traded for a higher price. It has been observed and recorded by civil societies that high level functionaries from the Gulf region regularly visit Karachi to purchase Bangladeshi girls in Pakistan. The US State Department in its report on trafficking, 2004 raised serious concerns about Bangladesh not complying with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and placed Bangladesh in Tier 2 of its watch list. Pakistan Data regarding women trafficking from Pakistan is not available but according to some informal NGO reports, fewer than 400 women are trafficked annually from Pakistan. Child trafficking occurs on a much larger scale. Children as young as four years old are kidnapped or sold by their parents to be trained as camel jockeys in the Gulf States, where they are used as camel jockeys in the age old Bedouin tradition. Though the United Arab Emirates (UAE) authorities banned camel races that used child jockeys back in 1993, the law hasn’t been enforced too stringently. The result is a continued smuggling of children from Pakistan, Bangladesh and India into the Gulf States. Nepal The US State Department in its report on trafficking published in 2005, has placed Nepal in Tier 1, thereby recognising Nepal’s efforts to counter human trafficking. This is indeed good news – but not in the way that the US State Department’s report would lead one to believe. Though Nepal has ratified almost all international human rights agreements, it has not undertaken satisfactory practical provisions in this regard. If we consider the State Department definition of trafficking “conscripted child soldier”, and not necessarily “mobility”, the number of trafficked person is beyond human imagination. The quota restrictions placed by the US on imports from Nepal have rendered nearly 30,000 Nepalese women jobless; increasing their vulnerability to trafficking. According to some estimates almost 60 per cent of these women will end up in the exploitative job market. In fact, almost 7000-12000 Nepalese women are trafficked for commercial trade to India alone on an annual basis. And approximately 200 children aged 6-14 are trafficked each year to work in Indian circuses. Nepal like Bhutan is also a transit point for Tibetan women. Scores of Tibetan women enter Nepal and Bhutan illegally seeking asylum at refugee camps but they end up as easy preys to traffickers. The migration-trafficking nexus The savings remitted by migrants abroad constitute the largest source of foreign exchange earnings for South Asia. Remittances range from US$ 1 billion (Nepal), $2.4 billion (Pakistan) to $ 4 billion (India). In 1980, the remittance flow to Pakistan was roughly 10 per cent of its Gross National Product. Migration of skilled labourers is undoubtedly an important contributor to the South Asian GNP and it serves several other purposes as well. It can narrow the trade gap, increase foreign currency reserves, facilitate debt servicing, reduce poverty and above all support sustainable development. Even for individual families, remittances from relatives abroad often constitute almost 50 per cent of their household incomes. Migration offers benefits to both sending and receiving countries. Receiving countries are able to fill in labour shortages and offset demographic pressures, while countries of origin can prevent “brain drain” by allowing managed migration which would ensure that returning migrants bring back new skills, contacts and financial resources that enhance the growth rate of the local economy. It is also the duty of both the sending and receiving countries to ensure a safe working environment for migrants. Unfortunately, the condition of women migrants is seriously undermined by the absence of concrete mechanisms for their protection and welfare. Statistics indicate a dramatic rise in the demand of South Asian women who are willing to work as unskilled labourers abroad. Many governments in South Asia are also attempting to involve women in gainful economic activities and are seeking to promote women migration for the advancement of their lives outside their country of origin. Need to ensure safe migration of women While there has been a great deal of effort in sending women for work, South Asian countries are yet to develop strategies to facilitate safe migration, which in turn contributes to illegal trafficking. Some of the major concerns faced by migrants include: The South Asian women migrants do not have a regular immigration status, particularly in Gulf States and Malaysia. Most migrants have to send their earnings through private transfer agencies, which charge exorbitant sums as service charges The central governments do not have any programmes to encourage the safe investment of remittance in the home countries. Lack of schools that train women migrants in the skills appropriate to their destination country. Even if they succeed in entering the country legally, unskilled labourers remain vulnerable to trafficking. Research indicates a vast majority of people who are trafficked are migrant workers. Appropriate measures needs to be taken to ensure women’s rights are fully protected by law. Formal agreements between origin and destination countries would help in promoting a more humane treatment of migrants. The right based rationale for safe migration and combating trafficking Gender based discrimination is one of the fueling factors in both trafficking and unsafe migration. Therefore, gender experts argue for an approach that recognises and confronts gender inequities and the denial of women’s social, economic, and political rights. The right to migrate and right to work with dignity and right to self determination are significantly dependent on gender. This is reflected in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). Among others, CEDAW obliges signatory to take measures to prevent violence against women and to eliminate discrimination in ownership in property and participation in public life. The Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA), 1990 also emphasises gender equality in terms of human development. Signed by 189 States, the BPfA provides a framework to include and safeguard women’s right in all development practices. A rights-based approach (participation, accountability, nondiscrimination, empowerment and linkage) is essential to provide an enabling environment for women to exercise their rights. “Women’s rights are also human rights,” needs to be acknowledged and there must be an understanding on the link between safeguarding women’s rights and combating trafficking. Facilitating safe migration and combating trafficking requires a thorough empowerment of women (knowledge to understand the social direction and change, ability to generate choices and exercise bargaining power, skills appropriate to the country of destination, development of self worth, and enabling regulatory and policy framework). If government and development agencies fail to follow these principles, women will become further marginalised and the trafficking of women and girls will increase at an unprecedented rate in the years to come. ICTs mainstreaming strategies: overcoming the barriers Mainstreaming ICTs in anti-trafficking and safe migration initiative starts from a simple process of social mobilisation or federating women in a group. This is where women will be able to develop their potential in relation to self and in relation to family/society through interaction with each other and through member education. The idea behind federating women is to equip them with knowledge (the capacity to act and use their judgments according to their moral values) through the use of information (data, narrative, stories) from their networks to ensure free, active and meaningful participation in all spheres of life. To overcome barriers in language, literacy and localism, a multimedia (oral, textual and electronic) facility needs to be installed. The media will assist them in documenting, experimenting, and disseminating their innovations and thereby promote people to people learning and only then they can be rewarded with rich incentives for their innovation. An intermediary with the capability to provide scientific knowledge could serve as a bridge among different stakeholders to promote such initiatives. One of the bottlenecks in South Asia in mainstreaming ICTs in gender is the lack of organisations with technical and management abilities that are dedicated towards working in the areas of knowledge management. Such organisational capability also includes the capability to advocate clearly the benefits of mainstreaming ICTs in their programme implementation. References Anti – Slavery International, Human Traffic, Human Rights: Redefining Victims Protection, London, 2002. Anti – Slavery International, The Migration – Trafficking Nexus: Combatting Trafficking through Protection of Migrants’ Human Rights: UK, 2003 Asian Development Bank (ADB), Combatting Trafficking of Women and Children in South Asia. Regional Synthesis Paper for Bangladesh, India and Nepal. 2003. Bangladesh Counter Trafficking Thematic Group, Revising the Human Trafficking Praradigm: The Bangladesh Experience., 2003. Gupta, A. K(1995), Knowledge Centre Network Building Upon What People Know, IFAD International Conference on Hunger and Poverty; Brussels 16 – 23 November. International Labour Migration, Trafficking in Human Beings, New Approach to the Problem, Geneva, 2003 International Organization for Migration (IOM), Trafficking in Person. An Analysis of Afghanistan, 2003. International Organization for Migration, World Migration, 2003, Geneva, 2003. Shakti Vahini, Trafficking in India Report, 2004. The Population Council, Anti Trafficking Programme in South Asia: Appropriate Activities, Indicators and Evaluation Methodologies, 2002. United Nations Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Recommended Guidelines on Human Rights and Human Trafficking, Geneva, 2002. US State Department Report on Trafficking in Person, 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005. Selected websites Anti – Slavery International: www.antislavery.org December 18 and Migrants Rigths International: www.december18.net International Labour Organization: www.ilo.org/migrant International Organization for Migration: www.iom.int Terres des Hommes: www.childtrafficking.org Beyond Trafficking: A Joint Initiative in the Millennium Against Trafficking in Girls and Women (JIT): www.jitnepal.org Oneworld: www.oneworld.net/guides/Nepal/trafficking Author: Pradipna Raj Patna is the National Programme Manager in UNDP’s JIT (Beyond Trafficking: A Joint Initiative in the Millennium Against Trafficking in Women and Girls, JIT) in Nepal.

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