Factors leading to trafficking of children and women in India

Abstract

Trafficking in human beings, especially in women, and children has become a matter of serious national and international concern. Women and children - boys and girls - have been exposed to unprecedented vulnerabilities commercial exploitation of these vulnerabilities has become a massive organized crime and a multimillion dollar business. Nations are attempting to combat this trade in human misery through legislative, executive, judicial and social action. Trafficking of children is a worldwide phenomenon affecting large numbers of boys and girls every day. Children and their families are often lured by the promise of better employment and a more prosperous life far from their homes. Others are kidnapped and sold. Trafficking violates a child's right to grow up in a family environment and exposes him or her to a range of dangers, including violence and sexual abuse. In India too, over the last decade, the volume of human trafficking has increased though the exact numbers are not known, it is one of the most lucrative criminal trades, next to arms and drug smuggling undertaken by highly organized criminals. Unless a public opinion is built laws are effectively designed and implemented, the situation is constantly monitored and the nexus of traffickers is exposed, children will continue to be trafficked. Co-ordinated efforts are required to stop and prevent child trafficking.