Kathmandu: The World Day Against Trafficking in Persons is being marked today with the theme ‘reach every victim of trafficking, leave no one behind’. The international day is marked to raise awareness towards eliminating human trafficking and call on governments, law enforcement agencies and stakeholders to enhance their commitment to that end.
In the context of trafficking in persons, leaving people behind means failing to end the exploitation of trafficking victims, failing to support victim-survivors once they are free from their traffickers, and leaving identifiable groups vulnerable to traffickers. Every year, thousands of men, women and children fall into the hands of traffickers, in their own countries and abroad. Almost every country in the world is affected by trafficking, whether as a country of origin, transit or destination for victims. The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons defines Trafficking in Persons as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation includes sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs, the UN noted. The World Day against Trafficking in Persons was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly, in its resolution A/RES/68\192. According to the United Nations, global crises, conflicts, and the climate emergency are escalating trafficking risks.
Displacement and socio-economic inequalities are impacting millions of people worldwide, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation by traffickers. Those who lack legal status, live in poverty, have limited access to education, healthcare, or decent work, face discrimination, violence, or abuse, or come from marginalized communities are often the primary targets of traffickers. Globally, national responses, particularly in developing states, appear to be deteriorating, the UN agency stated. Detection rates fell by 11 percent in 2020 and convictions plummeted by 27 percent, illustrating a worldwide slowdown in the criminal justice response to trafficking.
The COVID-19 pandemic also changed the characteristics of trafficking, pushing it further underground and potentially increasing the dangers to victims by making the crime less likely to come to the attention of the authorities.
According to the report of the Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizen, women and children are being trafficked in different countries of Asia, Arab, Africa, Europe and America in recent times. Stakeholders have laid emphasis on amending and framing the laws for the control of human trafficking. “Nepal’s existing law is not adequate and practical to prevent and check human trafficking in persons, socialist Meena Poudel said. “Its dimension has been expanded. Now men are also becoming vulnerable to the trafficking.”
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