Human trafficking is the fastest growing, criminal industry in
the world. But, relatively little is known about the issue of human trafficking
and the effectiveness of programmes aimed at combating traffic cking and
rehabilitating victims/survivors. Trafficking of Nepalese women and girls to
Indian brothels was established in 1960. Even before that during the Rana rule
in Nepal women required a special
authorisation to go to India.
About 50 percent of Nepal's female sex workers have previously worked in Mumbai
and more than 200,000 Nepalese girls are involved in the Indian sex trade1. According to the working agencies in
anti-trafficking activities in Nepal, there is increasing tendency in trafficking
among middle class women who are being trafficked to Gulf countries under the
veil of attractive jobs and handsome salaries. The magnitude of trafficking has
increased over the years, but neither the extent not the real expansion has
been verified. The illegal structure of trafficking, community vested interests,
and lack of actual information/data and networking among stakeholders are the
major constraints to preventive measures of trafficking. Disadvantaged groups
in all spheres of Nepali society plus the one and half decade long severe
political instability and internal conflict contribute to increasing
vulnerability to trafficking. Many studies in the past revealed that the
conflict induced inflows of women and girls to urban Nepal increased the
commercial sexual exploitation and thus internal trafficking too. Over the past
few years, research has been a crucial component of anti-trafficking measures,
but statistical data on trafficking victims remains widely varied. Figures
range from 12,000 per annum as per an ILO report to over 20, 0000 Nepali girls
being trafficked to Indian brothels as per Maiti Nepal2. UNICEF (1998) shows that more than 20% of the total persons
involved in sex work in Nepal are under the age of 16 years, with some as young
as 11. Similarly, an ILO report shows that 29 districts of Nepal have high
occurrence of trafficking3,
whereas, UNIFEM study4 identifies
39 districts as vulnerable compared to 26 identified by government of Nepal.
However, NGOs working in these sectors claimed that 70 districts out of 75 are
vulnerable in terms of human trafficking. These figures are based on trafficking
cases reported in 2008. Nepalese girls, trafficked and sold into prostitution
in India, are abandoned when they become infected with HIV. Out of the 218
Nepalese girls rescued in February 1996 from a Bombay brothel, 60-70% of them
were HIV positive5. Due to their
highly marginalized status, Female Sex Workers in Nepal have limited access to information
about reproductive health and safe sex practices.
The following initiatives have
been undertaken by the Government of Nepal at the legislative and policy levels
toward anti trafficking intervention programmes:
• The National Legal Code ( Muluki
Ain ), 1963, lays down as offence the separating of a minor below 16 years from
the guardian or enticing the minor to “cross the border with the intent of
trafficking or striking a deal in this regard”. Article 3 prohibits the sale or
purchase of any person.
• Under the Human Trafficking
Control Act of 1986, transporting a person to a foreign country with the
intention of selling and forcing a woman into prostitution are offences
punishable with imprisonment for up to 20 years.
• The Legal Code, Part IV,
Chapter 14 on rape, prohibits sexual exploitation. Assault and molestation of a
girl child under the age of
16, with or without her consent is a crime.
• In 1990, the Constitution of
Nepal included a provision which provide for special law to prohibit traffic in
human beings, slavery, serfdom, or forced labour in any form and thus seeks to
protect women and children by making trafficking punishable by law.
• Nepal Government has signed
the SAARC Convention on Prevention and Combating Trafficking in Women and
Children in 2002. This was a major step taken to combat women/girls trafficking
in Nepal.
• A National Task Force on
Trafficking has been set up with representatives from the Ministries of Home, Education,
Health, Labour, as well as representatives
from law enforcement NGO
network, UNICEF and ILO. The Ministry of Women and Social Welfare is mainly
responsible to deal with the issue of trafficking of women and children for
prostitution. It has formulated a National Plan of Action regarding the control
and elimination of trafficking of women and children into the sex market. A
transit home has been set up for the victims under this ministry. There is also
a training centre for imparting skills. Similarly, a new Bill on trafficking is
currently being drafted and discussed. It has been emphasized that the existing
laws related to women shall be amended and legal and implementation provisions
made for preventing traditional violence such as Witch hunt, Jhuma, Deuki and
Badi. Nepal is signatory to a total 11 different international conventions
related to women’s rights out of 21 human rights till end of 2008. We do have
effective policies that address trafficking for sexual and labour exploitation.
But, inefficient government mechanism to implement national and international
commitments hinders the prevention of trafficking. However, the recently
developed political scenario and social transition have brought a few rays of
hope in the improvement of situation by correcting the policies and adopting
effective measures to control women/girls trafficking. There is a lack of
institutionalized reporting system in human trafficking in the country.
Variation in the available data from previous surveys/research create obstacle
to mapping the trafficking situation and anti-trafficking activities. Thus, in
order to determine priorities, reliable and uniform data on trafficked persons
should be made available. Findings of the studies conducted by various agencies
should be disseminated and the stakeholders be made aware of the actual facts
in the country. Inadequate qualified and experienced expertise in this field is
another drawback to combat human trafficking in Nepal. Trafficked persons are
abused physically, emotionally and mentally. Such experiences have long term
effects on victim’s health. These people need professional help and support to
overcome the situation. Health care workers’ role here is also very important6. Ethical issues have to be associated with the
research process in trafficking. Doing research on violence in persons in Nepal
requires a lot of patience, devotion, compassion and commitment from the part
of investigators. In cases of women's situation of absolute victimization, it
is not only unethical for researcher to be unfriendly from their situation but
it is also inhuman not to be compassionate. It is to deal with the researcher's
compassion, consciousness and importantly ethics and loyalty toward research on
this area7. Without comprehensive,
carefully documented research on trafficking, it is impossible to know whether
women are experiencing more violence in some countries than in others, or
whether they are reporting it more often. With research, advocates can better
understand the obstacles and develop appropriate methods for combating them.
Research can motivate the government and civil society to take action once the
extent of a problem is proven. Advocacy trainings help in systematic and
effective lobbying in respect to the various aspects of trafficking as well as
awareness arising in general. Therefore, it is important to improve research
methods and techniques for gathering more reliable quantitative and qualitative
data. Further research will also be required to collect data on trafficked
persons and identify those vulnerable to trafficking, and to know the extent
and magnitude of both internal and trans-boarder trafficking in changing
scenario of Nepal. Similarly, it is essential to promote and provide preventive
and curative health facilities and sensitisation education to combat against
trafficking to the vulnerable communities/school child and long term follow up.
References
1. Sangroula Y.
Trafficking of Girls and Women in Nepal: Building a community Surveillance
System for Prevention. Kathmandu: Kathmandu School of Law (Kathmandu); 2001.
2. McGirk T.
Nepal's Lost Daughters, ‘India's soiled goods. Nepal/India News 1997 Jan 27.
3. Hardman R.
Prince brings hope to Nepal’s rescued sex slaves. London Telegraph 1998 Feb 9.
4. New ERA. A
situation analysis of sex work and traffi cking in Nepal. Kathmandu: New ERA/ UNICEF;
1998.
5. Wadhwa S. Nepal - Facts on Trafficking and Prostitution, Coalition
Against Trafficking in Women. Infact book on Global Sexual Exploitation.
Combating Human Trafficking in Asia: A resource Guide to International and
regional Legal instrument, political commitments and recommendation practices. New
York: Economic and social commission for Asia and Pacific, United Nations;
2003.
6. Joshi SK.
Violence against women in Nepal: Role of health care workers. Kathmandu Univ
Med J (KUMJ) 2009;7(26):89-90.
7. Joshi SK,
Kharel J. Violence Against Women in Nepal - An Overview [Online]. 2008 May 22
[Cited 2010 Apr 22]. Available from: http://www. thefreelibrary.com/Violence Against Women in Nepal -- An
Overview-a01073875052.
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