India Country Report - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

From UNODC’s Desk
Human trafficking is an offence against humanity and is a crime that shames us all. 2008,
is also the year marking the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
In reiterating the basic rights of human beings in this year, the year which is marking
‘dignity and justice for all of us’, it shames us that this crime of human trafficking makes a
mockery of the rights of the vulnerable. It makes human beings, particularly disadvantaged
women and children, the objects of financial transactions through the use of duress or
deception for various purposes, chief among them being, commercial sexual exploitation
and exploited labour. The exploitation may also be for many other reasons including
begging, forced marriages, adoption, transplantation of human organs, etc.
Virtually every country in the world is affected by trafficking for sexual exploitation or
forced labour. Trafficking is increasingly recognized as a complex process, a systematic,
economic phenomenon, involving the interplay of several contributing factors and
vulnerabilities. The need is also to focus on the most vulnerable women and children who
are often commodified due to socio cultural factors.
The <strong>United</strong> <strong>Nations</strong> <strong>Office</strong> on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Regional <strong>Office</strong> for South Asia
(ROSA) has been actively involved in combating and preventing human trafficking through
its programmes and initiatives in collaboration with the National Governments, particularly
the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) and the Ministry of Home Affairs
(MHA) in <strong>India</strong>. The Government of <strong>India</strong>’s commitment to address and prevent human
trafficking is evident from the serious efforts made towards initiation and implementation
of the several schemes and initiatives in partnership with civil society.
The <strong>India</strong> <strong>Country</strong> <strong>Report</strong> is an excellent process documentation, which marks the journey
in <strong>India</strong> to address issues of human trafficking in women and children from World Congress
II (WCII – Yokohama, 2002) to World Congress III on Sexual Exploitation of Children
and Adolescents (WCIII – Rio de Janeiro, 2008). The report highlights the good and
emerging practices in the area of anti human trafficking, acknowledging the efforts of the
Government, civil society organizations, international, bilateral and multilateral agencies,
survivors groups, and dedicated individuals, in the process.
We hope that this report will emerge not only as a tool for presenting the anti-human
trafficking efforts in <strong>India</strong> at the WCIII, but will also facilitate sharing of good practices
and help us protect the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children worldwide.
Ashita Mittal
Deputy Representative and
<strong>Office</strong>r-in-charge
UNODC ROSA
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