Context: 

• The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report for 2022 reveals that 40,725 women and 10,571 girls went missing from West Bengal that year, the highest numbers in the country.
• These alarming numbers raise the importance of understanding the various causes leading to women trafficking, solutions which can reduce trafficking and ways to rehabilitate the affected women.

Causes leading to trafficking of women:

Socioeconomic vulnerabilities:

• Poverty: Extreme poverty makes families and individuals susceptible to false promises of better opportunities, pushing them into the hands of traffickers.
• Lack of education and awareness: Limited access to education makes people vulnerable to misinformation and manipulation, hindering their ability to recognize and resist trafficking.
• Unemployment and limited livelihood options: Women with few economic opportunities are more likely to be lured by the prospect of work, even if it’s deceitful.
• Debt bondage: Traffickers can exploit existing debt obligations, forcing families to sell their daughters or wives into bonded labor or even sex work.
• Out migration of men in search of work leaves women and children behind, creating unsupervised and susceptible targets.

Gender discrimination and inequality:

• Patriarchal norms: Gender inequality and female subordination create a society where women are seen as less valuable and vulnerable to exploitation.
• Harmful traditional practices: Practices like child marriage and sex-selective abortion create a skewed gender ratio, increasing demand for women and girls for trafficking.
• Domestic violence and abuse: Women fleeing violence at home may become targets for traffickers who promise escape but ultimately subject them to further abuse.

Other factors:

• Armed conflict and migration: Displacement and instability during conflict or natural disasters can leave women and girls particularly vulnerable to trafficking.
• Weak law enforcement and corruption: Lax implementation of anti-trafficking laws and corruption within law enforcement can embolden traffickers and hinder rescue efforts.
  • Immoral Trafficking (Prevention) Act, 1956.
• Demand for cheap labor and sex work: The thriving demand for cheap labor and sex work, both domestically and internationally, fuels the trafficking industry.

Challenges in addressing the issue:

• Police Inaction and Scepticism: Lack of sensitivity among police officers towards trafficking, often dismissing missing women cases as elopement. 
  • This leads to reluctance of filing FIRs under Sections 370 (forced labour and slavery) and 370A (exploitation of trafficked persons) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
• Trafficking Networks and Methods: Highly organised and adaptable trafficking networks operate with impunity. They use all possible methods to continue their business.
• Victim Reintegration and Support: Stigma,  fear of social ostracization and lack of comprehensive rehabilitation programs make it difficult for survivors to come forward and seek help.
• Legal and Policy Gaps: Weak implementation of existing anti-trafficking laws and loopholes in legislation.

Solutions to address the issue:

• Strengthening law enforcement: Training police, sensitising them to trafficking, and allocating adequate resources for investigation and rescue.
• Empowering women: Promoting education, livelihood opportunities, and awareness about their rights to reduce vulnerability.
• Inclusion of Civil society in the process of rescuing and rehabilitation of trafficked women. Work of Katakhali Empowerment and Youth Association(KEYA), an NGO has been commendable in this direction.,
• Disrupting trafficking networks: Intelligence gathering, dismantling networks, and prosecuting traffickers effectively.
• Supporting survivors: Providing safe shelters, rehabilitation programs, and legal aid to help them reintegrate into society.
• Strengthening legal and policy framework: Enacting stringent anti-trafficking laws, streamlining enforcement, and allocating adequate resources for implementation.
  • The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, Protection of children from Sexual Offences Act(POCSO), 2012.
• International cooperation: Collaborative efforts with neighbouring countries and global organisations to combat cross-border trafficking.

A sustained and collaborative effort involving multiple stakeholders can help India effectively address the complex and enduring issue of women trafficking.