Human trafficking is modern slavery. The United Nations definition of trafficking covers “the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs.” In India, trafficking is a huge issue. According to the Honorable Dr Justice Arijit Pasayat of India's Supreme Court, there is no bigger problem in India today than human trafficking. Former Indian Home Secretary, Madhukar Gupta, believed that as many as 100 million people in India are involved in trafficking, and world expert Professor Kevin Bales acknowledges that India "may have more slaves than all the other countries of the world put together".

[bonded labour]

India's largest trafficking problem is bonded labour: men, women, and children who are in debt are forced to work in order to pay off the loan. Bonded labourers can be found in industries such as brick kilns, rice mills, agriculture, textiles and embroidery factories as well as domestic service – hard, back-breaking work often for very long hours and in dreadful conditions. Some NGOs (non-governmental organisations) estimate this problem affects as many as 20 million Indians, with up to 15 million being children. Nine out of ten are Dalits. [Read more...]

[sex trafficking]

Official estimates claim there are 3 million prostitutes in India, and of these 1.2 million are children. Girls are sold to brothels, often by so-called friends or relatives. They may be enticed by empty promises of shopping trips, jobs or even marriage, or they may be drugged. Before they know it, they are in captivity, forced to do things they do not want to under threat of physical and emotional punishment. Trafficking is mainly into the brothels, but increasingly girls are being abused for internet pornography. The vast majority are Dalits. [Read more...]

[child beggars]

The Oscar winning film ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ introduced the world to the reality of children being trafficked into beggary. Children are forced to beg with most if not all of the money they are given going to their gangmaster. The deliberate maiming of children in order to gain more sympathy and therefore more money is a common practice. There are an estimated 300,000 child beggars in India, most are Dalits.[Read more...]

[ritualised prostitution]

Some 250,000 women are involved in prostitution sanctioned by religious ritual, many of them enslaved unknowingly when they were still young children. Robbed of their freedom and dignity, their virginity is sold as soon as they reach puberty, and a life of prostitution begins. Their children are discriminated against, because legally they have no father. Almost all these women are Dalits. Read more...]

[domestic service]

Nowhere is slavery more hidden than in domestic service. Within the privacy of the home, the potential for exploitation and abuse is at its highest. A substantial proportion of domestic servants are children. As the demand for domestic workers increase, due to the expanding middle classes in India, so traffickers are exploiting the vulnerable to meet that demand. Most of those trafficked into domestic service are Dalits. [Read more…]

[bride trafficking]

There is a marked gender imbalance in India due to a cultural preference for sons rather than daughters, and the resulting female foeticide and infanticide. One of the consequences is a shortage of brides, particularly in certain areas. To meet this demand, girls are being trafficked for the purpose of marriage. Those most at risk are the tribal people and Dalits who fall below India’s rigid caste system. [Read more…]

[harvesting of body parts]

Owing to the severe shortage of organs for transplant in India there is a flourishing trade in organ trafficking and trafficking in persons in order to harvest body parts. Those most at risk are the poor and the desperate, making Dalits the most vulnerable to this gruesome exploitation. [Ream more...]

Trafficking is known as modern slavery, but in India the roots of trafficking are ancient. [Read more...]

Banner photo: RACHEL ROBICHAUX. Used by kind permission.