Odanadi 2.0
Odanadi 2.0

Human Trafficking in India

India is rapidly developing as a global economic power and has one of the fastest growing middle classes in the world. Its booming metropolises are bursting with new skyscrapers, Italian coffee shops, IT billionaires and Mercedes  – and yet it still has one of the worst human trafficking problems in the world. Extreme poverty, gender inequality, climate change and its ancient systems of caste, religion, and superstition mean that this situation isn’t improving; it’s getting worse. Wealth, the new ease of travel, tourism, and communication via mobile phones and the Internet are only feeding the problem.
 

India’s sex industry is booming – human commodity is cheap. At the highest echelons of society, white collar workers – such as police, government officials and politicians – are now reaping the rewards of the illegal human trade.
 
A few facts:

     

  • There are estimated 38.5 million people enslaved
  • According to the Global Slavery Index 14 million people are enslaved in India
  • The 2015 U.S. Trafficking in Persons Report states that India’s ‘trafficking in persons’ problem is estimated to be in the millions (90% of which is internal).
  •  Women and girls face significant discrimination and high rates of sexual violence across India.
  • The 2004 report by Shakti Vahini confirms that Karnataka, where Odanadi is located, is one of the major trafficking-supply states.
  • Karnataka is turning out to be a hotspot of human trafficking, reporting the third highest number of cases in the country during 2009-12
  • Purposes for trafficking in Karnataka include: forced prostitution, child marriage, domestic servitude, child labour, entertainment, begging, adoption, drug smuggling, organ transplants, and the castration of male children.
  • Traffickers may be family members or friends, brothel owners and brokers, community leaders, women in sex-work or people in powerful positions such as police and other government employees.
  • The vast majority of trafficked women and girls are poor, landless families and most come from the Dalit, Adivasi and other low-caste communities.