India Improves on Human Trafficking: U.S.

By Tripti Lahiri

The U.S. Department of State on Monday upgraded India on the issue of human trafficking, saying the country was making ?significant efforts? to deal with the crime.

In its annual report on trafficking this year, the U.S. moved India up one spot to ?Tier 2,? the second of four possible placements.

Since 2004, India had been on the ?Tier 2 Watch List,? a category that was created that year for countries with a large-scale human trafficking problem and that are seen as not doing enough year-to-year to combat it. Previously there were only three possible rankings.

The report praised India for setting up 87 local anti-trafficking units, for increasing the numbers of convictions of people involved in human trafficking for forced labor, and for ratifying a relevant United Nations protocol last month.

However, it also said the government needs to do a lot more. ?Corrupt law enforcement officers reportedly continued to facilitate the movement of sex trafficking victims and protected suspected traffickers and brothel keepers from the law,? said the report. ?Some police continued to tip-off locations of sex and labor trafficking to impede rescue efforts.?

The State Department said India should encourage its states to set up special courts dedicated to prosecuting trafficking cases, as Mumbai has done. It also called on India to improve its? protection for victims who testify against traffickers and to increase funding available to those trying to build a new life after being rescued.

The report also called for more stringent punishments on crimes related to human trafficking. It noted that in some cases local laws on bonded labor and child labor prescribe maximum sentences of just three years. The report also said that trafficking cases are frequently tried in lower courts where those convicted can be sentenced to no more than three years, even when the law allows for a greater maximum sentence than that. The State Department praised a Tamil Nadu court that last year sentenced three convicted bonded labor traffickers to five years in prison.

A spokesman for India?s home ministry said it does not comment on reports on India.

Earlier this month, a poll of the perceptions of a little over 200 experts on gender equity issues rated India the fourth most dangerous country in the world, in large part due to issues of human trafficking, often of women and girls, and female feticide.

But although sex trafficking is also a serious issue, the U.S. says forced labor is India?s largest trafficking problem, and that the majority of this is internal.

?The forced labor of millions of its citizens constitutes India?s largest trafficking problem,? said the 2011 report. ?Men, women, and children in debt bondage are forced to work in industries such as brick kilns, rice mills, agriculture, and embroidery factories.?

The report also criticizes India?s Maoist rebels, known as Naxals. ?Maoist armed groups known as the Naxalites forcibly recruited children into their ranks,? said the report.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/wsj/indiarealtime/feed/~3/iA61mXTT2m8/

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