SEXUAL HEALTH AND HUMAN RIGHTS A legal and ... - The ICHRP

Broader provisions related to child trafficking are also found in the Goa Children’s Act, 2003.
It defines child trafficking as “the procurement, recruitment, transportation, transfer,
harbouring or receipt of persons, legally or illegally, within or across borders, by means of
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 giving or receiving payments or benefits
to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for monetary gain or
otherwise.” 586
This law separately prohibits the trafficking of children for employment which attracts
imprisonment for three months and fine of 50,000 rupees. 587 In its provisions related to child
abuse, the law prohibits the sale of children, 588 requires airport authorities, border police,
railway police and traffic police to report suspected cases of trafficking in children 589 and
prohibits the sale of children in the garb of adoption for among other things, child trafficking,
including by agencies, doctors, hospitals, etc. 590 The Chapter in the law on ‘child sexual
trafficking’ 591 prohibits child prostitution, provides for the removal of child prostitutes and
provides for a punishment of imprisonment for one year and fine up to 100,000 rupees for
any person who exploits a child for commercial sexual exploitation. It also prohibits the
system of ‘devdasi’ or the dedication of a minor girl to a temple/god. 592
Some of the research countries 593 are parties to the SAARC (South Asian Association for
Regional Cooperation) Convention on Preventing and Combating Trafficking in Women and
Children for Prostitution, 2002. As is evident from the name of the convention, its scope is
limited, confined as it is to the trafficking of women and children and only in the context of
prostitution. 594 It makes punishable the act of trafficking 595 and the provision of any place for
the same. The convention recognizes the need for states to enter in to multi-lateral
mechanisms to implement the convention. However, as a legal framework the convention is
ineffective as it lacks a treaty body and enforcement mechanisms through which violations of
the convention can be brought to book.
In 2005, Sri Lanka enacted the Convention on Preventing and Combating Trafficking in
Women and Children for Prostitution Act, No. 30 of 2005 incorporating key provisions of the
SAARC Convention. Following the Convention, Sri Lanka’s criminal law punishes
trafficking (see below) while this law focuses on maintaining, financing, renting, etc. a place
for the purposes of trafficking in women and girls (below the age of 18) which is punishable
law with imprisonment from three to 15 years and a fine. 596 Aiding, abetting and attempting
to commit this offence attracts the same punishment. 597 The law also specifies the
circumstances where the offence is considered grave (i.e. where it is committed in custody,
586 Section 2(z), Goa Children’s Act, 2003 (India)
587 S. 7(9), ibid.
588 S. 8(13), ibid.
589 S. 8(15), ibid.
590 S. 8(16), ibid.
591 S. 9, ibid.
592 S. 9(7), ibid.
593 Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka
594 Article 1(2) defines ‘prostitution’ as “sexual exploitation or abuse of persons for commercial purposes”.
595 Article 1(3) defines ‘trafficking’ as “the moving, selling or buying of women and children for prostitution
within and outside a country for monetary or other considerations with or without the consent of the person
subjected to trafficking”.
596 Section 2, Convention on Preventing and Combating Trafficking in Women and Children for Prostitution
Act, No. 30 of 2005 (Sri Lanka)
597 Ibid.
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