India: USA State Dept. Trafficking in Persons Report

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US State Dept. Trafficking in Persons Report. Released by the Office

to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons

June 3, 2005. Report Home Page:

http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2005/

INDIA (TIER 2 – WATCH LIST)

India is a source, transit, and destination country for women, men,

and children trafficked for the purposes of sexual and labor

exploitation. Indian men and women are trafficked into situations of

involuntary servitude in countries in the Middle East and children

may be forced to work as beggars or camel jockeys. Bangladeshi women

and children are trafficked to India or trafficked through India en

route to Pakistan and the Middle East for purposes of sexual

exploitation, domestic servitude, and forced labor. Nepalese women

and girls are trafficked to India for sexual exploitation, domestic

servitude, and forced labor. India is also a growing destination for

sex tourists from Europe, the United States, and other Western

countries. Internal trafficking of women, men, and children for the

purposes of sexual exploitation, domestic servitude, bonded labor,

and indentured servitude is widespread.

Numerous studies show that the vast majority of females in the

Indian commercial sex industry are currently victims of sexual

servitude or were originally trafficked into the sex trade.

India is also home to millions of victims of forced or bonded labor.

The Government of India does not fully comply with the minimum

standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making

significant efforts to do so. The quality and magnitude of the

government's anti-trafficking response, particularly in the law

enforcement area, are seriously insufficient relative to India's

huge trafficking in persons problem.

Some important improvements were observed in the efforts of the new

government that came into power in June 2004. The Congress-led

government has made efforts to consolidate and coordinate central

government anti-trafficking efforts through the empowerment of the

Secretary for Women and Child Development, who serves as the

government's " nodal officer " for anti-trafficking programs and

policies.

Modest but uneven improvements in anti-trafficking law enforcement

efforts were seen in some localities, most notably the cities of

Mumbai and Chennai and the states of Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. The

use of fast-track courts was the key to greater prosecutions and

convictions in Tamil Nadu while sustaining a high number of

trafficking convictions in New Delhi.

The March 2005 order by the Home Minister of Maharashtra state to

close down " dance bars " — many of which served as prostitution and

trafficking outlets — may check a new trend of traffickers favoring

this more sophisticated and concealed format for selling victims

trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation over more blatant

brothel-based trafficking.

India is placed on Tier 2 Watch List for a second consecutive year

for its inability to show evidence of increased efforts to address

trafficking in persons, particularly its lack of progress in forming

a national law enforcement response to inter-state and transnational

trafficking crimes. The government also lacked a meaningful response

to the significant problem of trafficking-related complicity of law

enforcement officials.

The central government needs to designate and empower a national law

enforcement entity to carry out investigations and law enforcement

operations against trafficking crimes with nation-wide jurisdiction.

This major deficiency was highlighted by state-level law enforcement

officials who, at a 2004 conference, pointed to the difficulty in

investigating trafficking crimes across state lines and coordinating

with other states' police forces in accounting for the low level of

trafficking-related prosecutions and convictions in India.

Prosecution

Overall, Indian anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts remained

weak, though notable progress was seen in particular localities.

Comprehensive statistics on trafficking-related investigations,

prosecutions, convictions, and sentences were not available, though

statistics obtained from several key cities and states showed 195

prosecutions and 82 convictions obtained for offenses related to

trafficking for sexual exploitation in 2004. An estimated 2,058

prosecutions and 1,051 convictions for child labor offenses were

obtained in 2004 throughout India.

India has adequate laws to address trafficking for sexual

exploitation of adults and children. The Immoral Trafficking

Prevention Act (ITPA) criminalizes the offenses of selling,

procuring, and exploiting any person for commercial sex as well as

profiting from prostitution. However, Section 8 of the ITPA also

criminalizes the act of solicitation for prostitution, which has

been used in the past to arrest and punish women and girls who are

victims of trafficking.

The Inter-Ministerial Committee on Trafficking in Persons has

drafted revisions to the ITPA, in consultation with civil society

groups, and has submitted these revisions to Parliament for

consideration. The revisions would eliminate Section 8, thereby

affording victims of trafficking greater protections.

The Juvenile Justice Act of 1986, amended in 2001, provides modest

criminal penalties for sexual offenses committed against minors,

including the prostitution of children, but provides strong

protections for child victims of trafficking through the oversight

of Child Welfare Committees in each state and mandatory care

provided in state-approved protection homes.

Indian laws against trafficking for labor purposes, however, are

inadequate as they do not offer sufficient criminal penalties for

those who are responsible for forced or bonded labor, child labor,

and domestic servitude.

The Child Labor Act of 1986 has adequate provisions for the freeing

and rehabilitation of children found in forced labor conditions, but

carries provisions for criminal sentences of a maximum of only three

years. Moreover, the enforcement mechanism for this Act appears

insufficient – giving the mandate to local Magistrates who are

overburdened and ill-trained to carry out the law's requirements.

Similarly, the Abolition of Bonded Labor Act of 1976 provides

adequate protections for victims of bonded labor but carries only a

maximum sentence of three years' imprisonment. Few prison sentences

have been handed down under this Act.

Moreover, the enforcement of this Act is left in the hands of local

magistrates who are over-worked and ill-trained to enforce the Act

fully and who are charged with the competing mandate of collecting

state taxes from the businesses that employ bonded laborers.

Endemic corruption among law enforcement officials impedes Indian

efforts to effectively combat trafficking in persons crimes. Many

low-level border guards accept bribes or turn a blind eye to cross-

border trafficking. Some police officers have been implicated in

tipping off brothels to impending raids and profiting from the

proceeds of brothels that enslave trafficking victims.

As noted, efforts to curb this trafficking-related corruption have

been minimal, usually amounting to officers' transfers or, at best,

forced retirement. During the reporting period only two cases of

ongoing prosecutions of law enforcement officers for complicity in

trafficking were noted.

There are also, however, committed police in Chennai, Mumbai, and

New Delhi who have worked actively with NGOs to target traffickers

and to safeguard victims after their rescue.

In 2004, courts in Mumbai prosecuted 53 persons for trafficking-

related offenses, handing down 11 convictions. While this is an

increase over 2003, the level of prosecution remains inadequate

relative to Mumbai's role as the largest center for sex trafficking

in India. Mumbai lacks special " fast-track " courts for trafficking

crimes; consequently, trafficking prosecutions can take as long as

eight years, often resulting in acquittals due to lost evidence and

unavailable witnesses.

Protection

The central government continues to show inadequate and uneven

efforts to protect victims of trafficking, challenged by the

decentralized nature of Indian Government social support programs

and limited resources. The Department of Women and Child Development

(DWCD) – the central government's nodal anti-trafficking office –

improved coordination of support services delivery through greater

coordination with states' departments of women and child development

and civil society organizations. Government-run shelters in some

localities, like Mumbai, improved significantly over the last year.

Other areas lack government-provided shelters dedicated for

trafficking victims. During the reporting period, efforts by state

governments to develop formal referral systems — through which

police regularly refer victims of trafficking to qualified NGO

service providers — improved in some areas, but remained woefully

inadequate in other localities. In New Delhi, an innovative program

was launched, requiring police to provide trafficking victims with

counseling from a qualified NGO within 24 hours. This assured level

of protection has led to greater victim cooperation with police in

investigating and prosecuting traffickers.

In Mumbai, the state-run " Deonar " home for underage trafficking

victims has improved its collaboration with U.S. Government-funded

NGOs and, as a result, improved the level of care provided to

victims it shelters. Police in Mumbai have adopted policies that

show greater care for trafficking victims; the police commissioner

has instructed police not to arrest women involved in prostitution

for solicitation under India's anti-trafficking and anti-

prostitution law — a punishment that often re-victimized trafficking

victims in the past.

Prevention

In 2004, the new central government made significant progress in

improving a coordinated approach to preventing trafficking in

persons. A newly installed Secretary for Women and Child Development

was designated the nodal officer to coordinate and oversee all anti-

trafficking programs and policies. Since her appointment in mid-

2004, the Secretary has reinvigorated the National Central Advisory

Committee on Trafficking Persons, including civil society

organizations and state-level agencies in frank and productive

consultations.

Under the Secretary's leadership, the Committee has introduced much-

needed revisions to the ITPA and has begun drafting changes to the

1998 national plan of action on trafficking. Through the Committee,

the government coordinated more closely with NGOs, on which it

relies for the bulk of anti-trafficking prevention activity in India.

The Secretary and her staff have traveled widely, training hundreds

of state and police officials in over 20 training sessions.

In late 2004, India's National Human Rights Commission released a

lengthy two-year assessment of the trafficking situation in India,

including recommended actions for the government to take in

preventing future trafficking.

The Human Rights Commission also undertook a study of the sex

tourism phenomenon in Goa, a popular international tourist

destination. The National Commission for Women joined with the

Maharashtra State Commission for Women in holding a workshop on sex

tourism in that state.

ttp://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2005/46614.htm