Human trafficking is a modern form of slavery involving illegal transport of individuals by force or deception for the purpose of labour, sexual exploitation or activities in which others benefit financially.
It is global problem affecting people of all ages and genders. According to Britannica, it is estimated that approximately 1,000,000 people are trafficked each year globally and that between 20,000 and 50,000 are trafficked into United State, which is one of the largest destination for victims of the sex-trafficking trade.
It is $150 billion global industry. Two third of this figure ($99 billion) is generated from commercial sexual exploitation, while another $51 billion result from forced economic exploitation including domestic work, agriculture and other economic activities.
Nigeria is a source transit and destination country when it comes to human trafficking. It is the third most common crime in Nigeria after drug trafficking and economic fraud.(UNESCO 2022)
News reaching Luchiinter states that Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) along with the city police and NGO Shakti Vahini have rescued a 20-year-old Nigerian woman who was trafficked to India from Nigeria.
According to a statement issued on Saturday, November 12, 2022, the commission received information from the NGO on Thursday about a woman trafficked to Delhi on October 24 on a tourist visa with promise of a job.
However, the traffickers held her captive, took away her passport and forced her into prostitution.
Somehow, she managed to send her brother her location in west Delhi's Talak Nagar. Her brother then contacted the NGO.
A team of the commission, along with Delhi Police and the NGO, raided the place in Tilak Nagar and rescued the woman.
The woman told police that there were many other women in captivity of the traffickers, who were enticed away from African countries with promise of lucrative jobs and forced into sex work, the statement said.
The DCW commission has issued a notice to city police and has sought an action taken report in the matter, and sought a copy of FIR along with details of people arrested, the statement said.
In her statement, DCW chief Swati Maliwal stated that the commission has also sought details of efforts made by police to recover other women.
"We received the complaint of a Nigerian woman being kept captive by traffickers. Our team immediately contacted Delhi Police and rescued her. We receive many cases of foreign nationals being trafficked in Delhi," she said.
"Recently, a case regarding trafficking of Uzbek women was also received in the commission. The Delhi Police should conduct a thorough investigation of these international rackets and arrest the kingpins. These rackets must be busted in order to save the lives of thousands of women being forced into commercial sexual exploitation and bonded labour by the traffickers."
The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) is working with the Nigerian government to establish anti-trafficking measures.
They promotes public awareness among the population to identify what human trafficking looks like and to educate about the scale of the issue. NAPTIP also enforces prosecution measures with anti-trafficking laws that criminalize the act of sex and labor trafficking.
Human trafficking can also be reduced by boycotting products and companies that permit human trafficking, help the survivors of human trafficking by donating clothes and other goods to shelter the victims, and to stay informed.
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