TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS

Foreword
The pervasive problem of human trafficking has a long history in the world. While going through the
pages of history, the form of human trafficking has undergone vast changes and it is known as the
Modern Day Slavery. In the bygone century, slaves were traded and in recent years, human
trafficking is committed basically for sex exploitation, in the pretext of foreign employment and
trading of human organs, marriage with foreigners as well as employment in entertainment industry
as often brought to light by various media reports. Specially the women, children and even the male
facing the problem emerged through situation of the economic, social and political as well as and
natural disaster are vulnerable to have been found victims of trafficking.
Since this is a kind of organized crime, all the nations around the world are engulfed in the problem
of one or the other form of trafficking in the country of origin, transit and destination. Trafficking in
persons has been the problem worldwide and therefore the transnational support, coordination and
commitment to prevent and control this is inevitable.
The United Nations has developed various international human rights instruments for the protection
and promotion of human rights such as the Convention on the Eliminations of all Forms of
Discrimination against Women-1979 (CEDAW), Convention on the Rights of Child -1989 and its
Protocol, Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights-1966, Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights-1966, International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and
Members of Their Families-1990, Convention against Transnational Organized-Crime (CTOC),
Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children,
supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (Palermo
Protocol), International Labor Organization (ILO) Conventions, South Asian Association for Regional
Cooperation (SAARC) Convention on preventing and combating Trafficking in Women and Children
for Prostitution-2002.
These apart, various committees have facilitated a number of concerns and suggestions on the
issues related to trafficking in line with the UN conventions while the World Conference on Human
Rights and its work plan stresses the importance of state obligation towards working on the
elimination of violence against women in public and private life, the elimination of all forms of sexual
harassment, exploitation and trafficking in women.
While we look at the national level, the national laws including the national action plan on conrolling
human trafficking have been in enforcement for controling human trafficking at par with the
international conventions and treaties to which Nepal is a party. However, the effectiveness of the
implementation of these instruments is in dismal state.
In this concern, the National Human Rights Commission has advanced its activities by establishing
the Office of the Special Rapporteur of Trafficking (OSRT) under its purview to address the issues of
human trafficking with high priority for its prevention and control. Likewise, the Strategic Plans of
2004-08, 2008-10 and 2011-14 of the NHRC have been implemented with the advocacy and policy
based recommendations facilitated for the control and prevention of human trafficking while the
Current Strategic Plan of NHRC 2015-2020 has given special priority to the prevention and control of
human trafficking by making concerted efforts towards the protection of the rights of migrant
workers through economic, social and cultural rights. Together with the suggestions and policy
based recommendations the Commission has been publishing the National Report on the status of
trafficking in persons specially on women and children since 2005 AD and this is the seventh report.
The National Report on the status of TIP is based on primary as well as secondary sources of
information gathered through various studies and research, data collection, relevant details entailed
with the status of human trafficking, vulnerability to foreign labor migration, post earth quake
situation of human trafficking and its vulnerability, the efforts made by Government agency and
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