This document discusses child trafficking in South Asian countries. It notes that approximately 1.2 million children are trafficked worldwide annually, mostly for sexual exploitation or cheap labor. South Asia accounts for about 150,000 of these trafficked children each year. The document outlines international agreements like the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and domestic Indian laws addressing trafficking. Poverty, gender discrimination, and corruption enable the easy targeting and exploitation of children for trafficking. It calls for stronger implementation of anti-trafficking laws, increased identification of victims, and greater budgets to combat this issue in South Asia.

1. Presented by: Sukhman Sandhu
Roll no: 17168 Group no: 18
CrossingBordersandBoundaries:ChildTrafficking
anditsDimensionsintheSouthAsianCountries

2. INTRODCUTION
• Human trafficking is a complex phenomenon fueled by the tremendous growth in the global
sex market.
• Human trafficking, the third largest organized international crime;
• The number of child victims trafficked worldwide for sexual exploitation or cheap labour on
an annual basis is 1.2 million. (Global Estimates of Modern Slavery, ILO 20216)
• Driving the trade is the demand for commercial sexual exploitation, 79% all global
trafficking is for sexual exploitation;
• Approximately 150,000 women and children are trafficked from South Asia every year and
most of them from, via and to India. (End the Sexual Exploitation of Children Report, 2018-2019)
• Trafficking in children for commercial sexual exploitation is one of the primary
manifestations of commercial sexual exploitation of children in India, which exists on a large
scale and in many forms.

3. INTERNAIONALINSTRUMENTS
• UN Convention on the Rights of the Children (1992)
- A child is anyone under the age of 18 years;
- Child rights go beyond just human rights, which exist to ensure fair and proper treatment of
people across the world, and promote their well-being;
- They need more than just human rights due to a set of unique needs stemming from their
vulnerabilities.
• UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (2000).
- Article 5 of the Protocol requires States to criminalize trafficking, attempted trafficking, and any other
intentional participation or organization in a trafficking scheme;
- The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of a child for the purpose of exploitation.

4. INDIA&CHILDTRAFFICKING
• Constitutional Provisions & Judicial Discourse
- Article 23(1) of the Indian Constitution;
- Public at Large v. The State of Maharashtra, 1997 (4) BomCR 171;
- Prerana v. State of Maharashtra and Ors, 2003 BomCR Cri;
- Vishal Jeet vs. Union of India,1990 AIR 1412;
- Bandhua Mukti Morcha v. Union of India, 1984 AIR 802;
- Gaurav Jain v. Union of India, AIR 1997 SC 3021.
• Legislations
- The Indian Penal Code;
- The immoral traffic prevention Act, 1956;
- The child labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1976.

5. Children:EasyToTarget
• Child victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation (mainly girls) are identified in every part
of the world, but largely concentrated in Central America and the Caribbean and East Asia;
• In 2018, for every 10 victims detected globally, about 5 were adult women and 2 were girls;
• Among children, girls aged between 14 and 17 years old appear to be particularly targeted;
• Exploitation is driven mainly due to Poverty and Uneven Development;
- Official corruption;
- Gender discrimination;
- Harmful Traditional and Cultural Practices;
- Civil Unrest;
- Natural Disasters; and
- Lack of Political Will.

6. SUGGESTIONS&THEWAYFORWARD
• IPC prohibition on selling or buying a minor for purposes of prostitution fails to
include many other activities related to trafficking prohibited by the Trafficking
Protocol, such as recruiting, harbouring, transporting, transferring or receiving
trafficked children;
• The Government must increase efforts to identify trafficking victims among at-risk
groups such as children arrested for prostitution and illegal migrants, and at the same
time improve the prosecution and conviction of trafficking offenders;
• State Advisory Committees must be made functional in all States to allow for the
effective implementation of India’s Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking and
Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Women and Children;
• Appropriate and effective implementation of existing laws is essential in order to
effectively protect children and remains a problem;
• The budget allocated for National Plan of Action implementation at both central and
state levels must be increased;
• To draft and submit the India country-report on the Optional Protocol on the sale of
children, child prostitution and child pornography (Optional Protocol).