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Understanding Human Trafficking from India to United States: An Intersectional Approach

• Nairruti Jani (Florida Gulf Coast University)

This paper explores the intersectionality of various analytical issues related to the trafficking of women from India, South Asia, to the United States. Addressing the oppressive pathways and their intersectionality, this conceptual framework provides a deeper understanding of the interrelationships of nationality, gender, ethnicity, religion, class, caste, immigration process, immigration status, social support in the United States, and language barriers that influence migrating women’s vulnerability to human trafficking in the process of immigration from India, South Asia, to the United States. The primary purpose of this paper is to advocate for a binary perspective of intersectionality in conducting research in international human trafficking.

Keywords: intersectionality, human trafficking, oppression, research

Jani, N., (2022) “Understanding Human Trafficking from India to United States: An Intersectional Approach”, Social Development Issues 44(2): 3. doi: https://doi.org/10.3998/sdi.3701

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Published on 19 dec 2022, peer reviewed, creative commons attribution 4.0, introduction.

Intersectionality, the mutually constitutive relationship among social identities, is a central tenet of recent feminist literature and has transformed the manner in which gender is conceptualized in research. This is a promising perspective in understanding the oppressive realities experienced by trafficked women transnationally. In human trafficking research conducted in the United States, a population that remains missing is the model minority of South Asians, particularly Asian Indian women. However, through the number of calls made to its National Human Trafficking hotline Polaris, it was approximated that 800 workers with temporary work visas were trafficked from this region between 2015 and 2017, with women being in majority (Indian Express, 2018). This paper explores various analytical issues related to the trafficking of women from South Asia to the United States by conceptualizing the interrelationships of nationality, gender, ethnicity, religion, class, and caste besides other related factors that influence them post-immigration to the United States, thereby furthering their vulnerability to trafficking. Type of trafficking from South Asia to the United States is unique and because of the complex nature of this reality, little research exists on this population. Intertwined in the complex web of immigration, employment, marriage, debt-bondage, and sociocultural boundaries, South Asian victims of human trafficking remain the least studied population among international victims of human trafficking. The perspective of intersectionality offers a unique paradigm that extends a “best practices” resource and provides an understanding of how the intersectionality of variables in both source and destination countries creates a pathway to human trafficking among Asian Indian immigrant women. In this paper, we explore this concept in theory, and advocate that it be incorporated into empirical research and practice for transnational victims of human trafficking.

Intersectionality, a mutually constitutive relationship among social identities, has become a central tenet of feminist thinking; the one that McCall (2005) and others have suggested is the most important contribution of feminist theory to our present understanding of gender. Indeed, at the level of theory, intersectionality has transformed how gender is discussed (Rollins et al., 2018). Feminist theorists reveal and challenge the taken-for-granted assumptions about gender that underlie conventional theoretical and methodological approaches to empirical research as, for example, psychology’s homogenization of the category of gender. The intersectionality perspective further reveals that the individual’s social identities profoundly influence one’s beliefs about and experience of gender. As a result, feminist researchers have come to understand that the individual’s social location as reflected in intersecting identities must be at the forefront in any investigation of gender. Gender must be understood in the context of power relations embedded in social identities ( Collins, 1995 , 1999 ). In order to understand the diverse population of victims of human trafficking, the theory of intersectionality offers a promising perspective. For researchers and practitioners alike, understanding the intersection of victims’ social reality allows practitioners to understand their vulnerability from a multidimensional perspective. Understanding the social location of Asian Indian victims of trafficking is important to answer the following question: “Why don’t we find case studies of Asian Indian victims of trafficking?” In addition, attention is required while discerning how to apply the understanding of sociopolitical location of Asian Indian victims of trafficking in the United States in the course of conducting research, practice, or policy.

Intersectionality, the assertion that social identity categories, such as race, gender, class, sexuality, and ability, are interconnected and operate simultaneously to produce experiences of both privilege and marginalization, has transformed old conversations while inspiring new debates across the academy. Intersectionality encourages recognition of the differences that exist among groups, moving dialogue beyond considering only differences between groups. Originating from a discontent with the treatment of “women” as a homogenous group, intersectionality has evolved into a theoretical research paradigm that seeks to understand the interaction of various social identities and how these interactions define societal power hierarchies. In this paper, we expand this theoretical knowledge by engaging in a discussion about the application of this approach to understand international victims of human trafficking.

The abolitionist anti-trafficking movement led by the United States gained momentum in the year 2000 and slowly expanded to other parts of the world with the efforts of the United Nations (UN) and the Office of Trafficking in Persons (OTIP under the values of the Administration of Children and Families [ACF]). The definition of human trafficking remained cloudy due to its differences and interpretation; however, the single-axis interpretation of the concept has remained common across nations ( Meriläinen & Vos, 2015 ). In the United States, the early supporters of this movement constituted one-lens framework of trafficking that looked at a trafficking situation from the “human exploitation for profit” model.

Trafficking refers to the recruitment, transportation, purchase, sale, transfer, harboring, or receipt of persons: by threat, use of violence, abduction, use of force, fraud, deception, or coercion (including abuse of authority or a position of vulnerability), or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another or debt bondage, for exploitation which includes prostitution or for placing or holding such person, whether for pay or not, in forced labor or slavery-like practices, in a community other than the one in which such person lived at the time of the original act.

Research conducted on human trafficking survivors in the past 20 years has expanded our understanding of variables related to vulnerability of human trafficking among different groups. Psychosocial and economic variables are often described to have increased the vulnerability of some marginalized groups to human trafficking. It is known that trafficking is an international crime, and survivors of trafficking have faced some distinctively different circumstances under which they got trafficked. For example, within the countries of South Asia, confounding issues, such as pervasive gender biases, poverty, illiteracy, laws without enforcement capacity, rampant human rights violations, and abuse of legal migration patterns, often result in a trafficking situation, especially among women (Jani & Felke, 2015). In the United States, on the other hand, vulnerability to trafficking is associated with variables such as child abuse and neglect, substance abuse, debt bondage, youth running away from home, etc. ( Fedina, Williamson, & Perdue, 2016 ). To this end, country-level anti-trafficking efforts are unique based on the understanding of local variables that create vulnerability of certain groups to trafficking. This model would be a good fit if we did not live in a global economy where innumerable people migrate internationally. Rapid migration patterns in recent years have given rise to international human trafficking. At this point, the “one-axis” framework fails to understand variables that create vulnerability among international victims of trafficking. Identifying these variables becomes a complex issue because of dual or multiple cultural realities associated with each case of transnational human trafficking.

Having spent millions of dollars in research and rehabilitation of trafficked victims, governments often fail to prevent trafficking or punish perpetrators ( McDonald, 2014 ). In this paper, we advocate for a multi-axis approach to understand variables related to transnational survivors of human trafficking from India to the United States.

Migration from India to the United States

In most cases, human trafficking is nothing but “migration went wrong.” Immigration to the United States from India started in the early nineteenth century when Indian immigrants started settling in communities on the West Coast. Although they originally arrived in small numbers, new opportunities arose in the middle of the twentieth century, and the population grew larger in the following decades. As of 2019, about 2.7 million Indian immigrants were residing in the United States. Today, Indian immigrants account for approximately 6 percent of the US foreign-born population, making them the second largest immigrant group in the country ( Garha & Domingo, 2019 ).

The first wave of Indian immigrants found work mainly in the agriculture sector and lumber and railroad industries. Like other non-European migrants, a series of laws enacted in 1917, 1921, and 1924, among other exclusionary measures, eventually banned Indian immigrants altogether. While the Luce-Celler Act of 1946 established a yearly quota of 100 Indian migrants, it was the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act that removed national-origin quotas altogether, paving the way for non-European arrivals ( US Census Bureau, 2019 ). Educational exchange programs, new temporary visas for highly skilled workers, and expanded employment-based immigration channels opened pathways for highly skilled and educated Indian migrants, many of whom also brought their families. Between 1980 and 2019, the Indian immigrant population in the United States increased thirteen-fold (see Figure 1 ). The United States, with 3.4 million Indians, is the second most popular destination for Indians going abroad after the United Arab Emirates ( US Census Bureau, 2019 ).

Source: Data from Ruggles, Genadek, Goeken, Grover, & Sobek (2020) and US Census Bureau (2019) .

Considering the fact that slavery was abolished in the United States in 1965 and there was little understanding of the new methods of enslavement till the 1990s, little is known about human trafficking experiences of this community. Complex cases of domestic servitude and domestic violence have surfaced occasionally in Indian news media, suggesting what we now define as human trafficking. Even in recent years, isolated cases of human trafficking have been established in the Asian Indian immigrant community, although little is known about their pathways to trafficking. In this paper, we aimed to extend the feminist theory of intersectionality to human trafficking experienced by Asian Indian immigrants in the United States. An individual’s social identity profoundly influences one’s beliefs about and experience of human trafficking, and in this case, it results in silent suffering in a foreign land. Since human trafficking is rampant in India, the individual perception of trafficking in this community could be perceived as “normal.” To this end, it becomes important to look at intersecting variables that may influence the perception of what constitutes human trafficking. While not accurate, this understanding provides one explanation to the following question: “Why didn’t trafficked Asian Indian women ask for help?”

Pathways to Immigration

Indians are less likely to be naturalized US citizens than overall migrants (- Figure 2 ). In 2019, 47 percent of Indians were naturalized citizens, compared to 52 percent of all migrants ( Ruggles et al., 2020 ). Compared to all migrants. Indians are much less likely to have arrived before 2000. The largest share of Indians, approximately 41 percent, arrived in 2010 or later, as compared to just 25 percent of the overall foreign-born population ( Ruggles et al., 2020 ).

Source: USDHS (2020).

In 2018, India was the fourth largest country of origin for new permanent residents after Mexico, Cuba, and mainland China. Close to 60,000 of the 1.1 million new lawful permanent residents (LPRs) were from India. Most Indians who obtain green cards do so through family reunification channels. In 2018, 59 percent of the 59,821 Indians who received a green card did so as being either immediate relatives or other family members of US citizens, while 38 percent received a green card through employment-based channels, at a rate almost three times higher than for all new LPRs (13 percent). Although the vast majority of Indian migrants in the United States are present legally, according to the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) estimates, during 2012–2016, approximately 296,000 were unauthorized migrants, comprising approximately 3 percent of the 11.3 million unauthorized population. According to MPI estimates, approximately 20,000 Indian unauthorized immigrants were directly eligible for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program introduced in 2012 (US Department of Homeland Security [USDHS], 2020 ).

Workforce Participation

In 2019, approximately 72 percent of Indian migrants, aged 16 years and older, were in the civilian labor force. Approximately 21 million female migrants live in the United States, making up just over 13 percent of the nation’s female population. Female migrants reach the United States from all over the world, with the largest share from Mexico (25.6 percent), the Philippines (5.3 percent), China (4.7 percent), and India (4.6 percent). Several females join their spouses, and many come using family-based immigration channels. India is a labor-intensive economy, and the gender functioning of immigrant Asian Indian women is distinctively different in the United States compared to that in India. Besides being professionals contributing to the workforce, females also contribute to their families as caregivers for children, elderly parents or parents-in-law, and spouses ( World Bank Prospects Group, 2021 ).

Theoretical Perspective

Intersectionality, a concept coined by Crenshaw in 1989 , is used to describe how different forms of discrimination (racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, xenophobia, classism, etc.) interact and overlap one another. This concept offers a unique opportunity to examine the issues that cannot be examined or advocated in isolation. Simply put, intersectionality explains the manner in which multiple oppressions are experienced, and thus guides research and practice with these vulnerable populations.

As mentioned earlier, the concept of intersectionality is increasingly used to frame issues of social justice. For many advocates of social justice, it is a mode to overcome the isolation that a single-issue focus can have on trying to build a more powerful movement. As leaders across social justice issues employ this thinking, it becomes important to consider the manner in which intersectionality explains oppressed groups’ vulnerability to human trafficking. This perspective has potential to go beyond advocacy in research and practice. For example, the survivors of human trafficking are often thought of as a singular voice, even described as “ideal” victims. This is most commonly considered when a survivor’s experience is manipulated or leveraged by professionals in a public setting to support a popular narrative or a political agenda. Too often, individual survivor is asked to share and considered as a single representative of all human trafficking survivors the world over. However, in the case of human trafficking, it is illogical to frame a common story based on an isolated experience and employ practice interventions based on the same. In reality, victims of trafficking can and do include every race, gender, ethnicity, and age group and they have often suffered from several forms of abuse. Specifically, in the case of human trafficking victims in the United States that are taken from India, it becomes extremely important that professionals dealing with human trafficking must acknowledge the multiple factors that impact the lived experiences of these victims. Considering that in many of these cases, a story of desperate or forced migration results in a trafficking experience, it is unreasonable to exclude variables contributing to victims’ trafficking narrative from both source and destination countries. Just like the majority of international victims of human trafficking, including victims sourced from developing countries such as India to the United States, the complex trauma suffered by these victims at multiple stages of their journey needs to be unfolded keeping in mind the socioeconomic and cultural aspects of their lived experiences ( Courtois, 2008 ). For clinicians, social workers, and law-enforcement officers, it becomes important to understand the unique background of each survivor of trafficking from India. Unlike the popular perception of India in the western world, every state and region of India has its subculture based on religion, gender, caste, economic status, educational status, family background, etc. Understanding these details of survivors of human trafficking from India and combining them with some acculturation issues related to work visas, work ethics, social support indicators in the United States, awareness about laws and policies, ethnic and religious discrimination, gender discrimination, and gender-based salary parity in the United States, can help us to understand the complex web of variables that create extreme vulnerability to trafficking. Understanding the intersectionality of variables from both source and destination countries could provide an answer to the often-asked following question: “Why don’t Asian Indian victims ask for help?”

Intersectionality of different lived experiences from different sources and destination countries provides a strong promise of influencing service provision for this section of population. As Audre Lorde reminded us: “There is no such thing as a single-issue struggle, because we do not live single-issue lives” ( Dudley, 2006 ). When we work with a survivor, we must consider the manner in which all facets of their identity interact, acknowledging that each person’s story and needs are unique, and thus demand unique attention.

Variables Related to Trafficking Vulnerability among Asian Indian Immigrants

Post-colonial India remains a patriarchal society. In a gender-biased society, women’s primary roles include that of homemaker and care provider. Post--globalization, because of the struggling economy, many women were forced to join the labor force in India ( Bannerji, 2002 ). Owing to gender preference, favoring educating of boys in India, the vast majority of Indian women in India work below minimum wages in unorganized sectors. In India, women who work as domestic help, cooks, nurses, etc. provide a unique benefit to the progressive middle-class and upper middle-class females, who are able to complete their education and enter a highly skilled workforce ( Bannerji, 2002 ).

In previous migration waves from India, many women joined their spouses in the United States and remained caregivers to their families. Owing to the bias experienced in the home country, many women migrating to the United States on family-based visas are not educated in English medium schools and often have limited employment opportunities or worldly exposure. Until recently, women who moved to the United States in the H4 visa category could not work legally despite being highly educated ( Balgamwalla, 2014 ).

Visa Restrictions in the United States

For women who migrate to the United States based on education or in the highly skilled visa category, adjusting to the new forms of gender bias creates additional struggles. With the limited knowledge of work ethics and work culture of the new land, sociocultural and new economic adaptations become a great struggle. Their identities of being women, immigrant women, and in some cases Muslim women, and being less educated and unemployed create a perfect environment for their exploitation ( Balgamwalla, 2014 ). Many migrated women in the United States face domestic violence and exploitation in their families, with limited, if any, social support. If unemployed, their access to health care is also limited ( Mallapragada, 2016 ).

Language Barriers

Indian immigrants are much more likely to be proficient in English than the overall foreign-born migrants. In 2019, about 22 percent of Indians, aged 5 years and more, reported limited English proficiency, compared to 46 percent of all immigrants. Approximately 12 percent of Indians spoke only English at home versus 16 percent of foreign-born migrants. According to the recently available data on languages, in 2018, besides English, immigrants from India spoke a variety of other languages at home, including Hindi (26 percent), Telugu (13 percent), Gujarati (11 percent), Tamil (9 percent), and Punjabi (8 percent) ( USCUS, 2020 ).

Patriarchal Culture in India

The United States is a melting pot. In the latest immigration wave related to the information technology workforce, there has been an exponential increase in the number of people migrating to the United States from China, India, and other South Asian countries. Migrants from this region bring with them their cultural norms and practices. South Asian countries have historically experienced gender bias (Jani & Felke, 2015). The stringent norms of patriarchal society and highly rigid caste system, associated with extreme subordination of women, restrict proper access to education and jobs for females and even limit their rights to property in some states of India. Even in progressive Indian states, the Hindu traditions dictate social norms, creating subjugation of working women in India ( Livne, 2015 ). Prevailing illegal customs in India, such as dowry, female feticide and infanticide, child abuse and child marriages, and neglect of widowed women, create subconscious acceptance of gender-based oppression among some immigrant women ( Chandramouli, 2011 ). Abdullah (2019) explained a modern semblance of human trafficking of women and children that presents children as a commercial commodity, thus opening doors for exploitation and abuse. Commercial surrogacy and in vitro fertilization have given a new shape to the trafficking of women in India. This practice has been normalized in northwestern states of India from where many women have migrated to the United States ( US Census Bureau, 2019 ). Saravanan (2018 , p. 68) also finds that commercial surrogacy is blooming in the areas of the pre-existing “slavery-like employment sectors, child sale, and trafficking.”

Therefore, in international human trafficking cases, a combination of factors—-historical, sociocultural, and politico-economic—act together in the regional conceptualization of definition of human trafficking. Cultural acceptance of trafficking as a common practice in India, coupled with the pressure of maintaining the Asian Indian image of a “model minority” community in the United States, creates a complex web for the victims from this region to break and speak out about their conditions ( Yamanaka & McClelland, 1994 ). Trafficked victims from South Asia are often unaware of their rights and the protection provided to them by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000. Illegal immigration channels, domestic violence, and child abuse are some of the other prevailing practices among the South Asian community in the United States. Lack of cultural awareness, particularly related to human trafficking and violence against South Asian women, creates some additional challenges for professionals trained to identify and intervene human trafficking cases in the United States ( Jani & Anstadt, 2013 ).

Socioeconomic Status

Socioeconomic and cultural challenges, including multiple other issues such as child labor, low levels of education, migration, harmful gender attitudes and behaviors, and limited livelihood opportunities, provide an enabling environment for trafficking of Asian Indian women ( Jani & Anstadt, 2013 ). Anticipation of foreign employment with handsome salaries has been used as a method to trap women to migrate, and in some cases get smuggled, to the United States.

Human trafficking in India is often cited as the result of poverty and destitution. However, migration of an individual leading to human trafficking is often influenced by factors beyond poverty. In order to understand human trafficking from India to the United States, we must understand the social realities that act as push factors, particularly for women, to migrate to the United States.

Caste, Religion, and Ethnicity

Rural India has witnessed many women migrating to the United States during early waves of migration, because rural women experienced more caste-based biases as well as gender biases compared to urban women ( New York Times , 2021 ). Similarly, women from minority religious groups in India, such as Muslims and Christians, had compounded oppressive experiences, which in some cases acted as a push factor for migration ( Ahlin & Sen, 2019 ; Bonacich, 1973 ; Kurien, 2001 ).

The subordinate positioning of women in India, along with intersecting oppressive variables, moves with Asian Indian women who face gender-based inequalities in the American gender-biased environment. This increases their vulnerability to human trafficking and comorbid health and mental health challenges.

Gender-Based Wage Gap in the United States

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, and nationality. Salary discrimination based on gender and race has been illegal in the United States since the enactment of the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Equal Pay Act of 1963 provides that men and women working in the same establishment must be paid equally for equal work. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 provides a broader scope for protection against discrimination by including race, nationality (with later amendments and complementary laws concerning age and disability), and all aspects of employment, from hiring and recruitment to promotion, access to training, and benefits (US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission [USEEOC], 1997 ). In addition, since 1965, when Executive Order 11246 was passed, firms receiving Federal contracts have to take affirmative action beyond nondiscrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or nationality to attain equal representation and provide equal salary to their workforce (US Department of Labor (USDOL), n.d.). While salary discrimination in the United States never included a formal right to comparable worth or equal value, in the 1980s many US states implemented comparable worth approach in public sector workforce, resulting in a significant increase in women’s wages ( Hartmann and Aaronson 1994 ; Killingsworth 2002 ). With this change, actual earnings of women increased on average, albeit from a much lower base but never came close to that of men. Earnings of non-White and immigrant women were particularly affected by deindustrialization, because they more potentially worked in nonunionized private sector jobs than other women ( Ahmed and Hegewisch 2021 ; Scott et al. 2022). From the mid-1990s to the present day, changes in the wage gap have been slow in spite of the fact that women have surpassed men at all levels of education (Hegewisch and Williams-Baron 2017). The majority of Asian Indian women in the United States work in private sectors. In recent years, many women have joined the IT sector, juggling between working in high--demand nonunionized environments and managing their functions of being (Indian) wives, mothers, and caregivers. Escaping the grind of Indian gender bias, these women in the United States are often trapped in another oppressive work culture ( Robinson-Dorn, 2021 ).

One-Way Traffic

Considering the cultural paradox of subjugation of women and a dire need of engaging them to boost family’s economic conditions, the trafficking of young girls from India to the United States often becomes an unintended outcome of immigration and human smuggling from this region. The global image of the United States being the “land of the free” often breaks for immigrant women when they discover familiar gender-biased practices in family and workplaces even in America. Migrating to America from India often comes at a prohibitive economic cost. The American immigration process is sluggish and expensive for people from developing countries like India ( Orrenius & Zavodny, 2010 ). The length of time and money invested in this process often makes it almost impossible for women to escape labor and, in some cases, gender exploitation.

Stigma of Human Trafficking for Asian Indian Immigrants in America

Asian Indian immigrants face serious acculturative stress, and therefore work hard to maintain the “model minority” status in the increasingly divisive and homophobic American society. Experiences of women immigrants from India to the United States provide fewer opportunities to process their lived realities. Over the last 20 years, few reports of trafficking of women from India to the United States have appeared, although the estimated number of cases is much higher ( Hindustan Times , 2022 ). Owing to shame and stigma attached to trafficking, female victims suffer in isolation, and the following question becomes pertinent: “Why don’t we hear from Asian Indian victims of trafficking in the United Sates?”

Model of Intersectionality in Asian Indian Trafficking

The model given below provides integration of factors that create the web of human trafficking spanning from India to the United States. The intersectionality of primary variables listed below displays a rubric for professionals to understand. Here, the intertwined variables related to trafficking cannot be overlooked while understanding the trafficking situation from India to the United States.

Intersectionality of oppressive variables related to human trafficking provides a framework to understand the unique aspects of international trafficking of victims to the United States. This approach has the potential to understand how the combination of push and pull factors create vulnerability in immigrant population to be easily exploited by traffickers by means of false promises, fraud, force, or coercion. Figure 3 provides an intersectional model to understand the manner in which power dynamics in both source and destination countries influence international human trafficking.

Implications of Research, Policy, and Practice

The theoretical abundance of intersectionality has the potential to reframe research, practice, and policy related to international human trafficking. The promising potential of this model is in its ability to understand the pathways to trafficking vulnerability from oppressive frameworks faced by victims not only in the source countries but also in the destination country. Similarly, the theory of intersectionality can be used to understand development of global policy and in research on migrant and refugee populations. To conclude, this approach if used widely in practice can guide health and mental health practitioners as well as policy makers, lawyers, and law enforcement officers working to support victims of human trafficking. Intersectionality examines diversity among individual women who are vulnerable to trafficking during the process of their migration to the United States. Based on their intersecting axes of nationality, race, ethnicity, class/caste, religion, marital and immigration status, and other characteristics, there is diversity across source countries from where victims are trafficked to the United States.

Conclusions

Trafficking of females from India, South Asia, to the United States cannot be understood completely on the basis of generalized literature available on human trafficking because of unique socioeconomic and cultural factors that expand from India to the United States. In conclusion, this paper has examined intersectionality in order to demonstrate its significance for feminist debates and activism to end female trafficking. Outlining the main theoretical premises and locating origins of the concept within Black feminism, this paper presented the fundamental aspects that intersectionality as paradigm contributes to human trafficking literature. Application of this approach in research and preventative practice can potentially save the lives of females who are vulnerable to trafficking in the process of migration from India to the United States.

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Nairruti Jani is an Assistant professor, Florida Gulf Coast University, 10501 FGCU Blvd, South Fort Myers, FL. She can be contacted at [email protected]

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Jaffer Latief Najar

February 11th, 2021, human trafficking in india: how the colonial legacy of the anti-human trafficking regime undermines migrant and worker agency.

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Since the beginning of COVID-19 pandemic, concerns about migrant workers’ rights and conditions in India have been very much in the news and have been escalated, yet the response from the Indian government is feeble (Janwalkar, 2020; Rukmini, 2020; Francis and Uniyal, 2021). Subir Sinha recently notes that Covid-19 has deepened existing inequalities, which blur the lines between waged, coerced and trafficked labour in India (Sinha, 2020). There are also reports showing a rise in trafficking cases in India because of this current pandemic situation ( News18 Networks , 2020). In response to these concerns, the Women Safety Division  of the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs issued an advisory, since July 2020, advising all states and Union Territories (UTs) for the urgent establishment of new Anti-Human Trafficking Units (AHTUs), and/or upgrade infrastructure in existing ones (Janyala, 2021). AHTUs in India are special police units, devoted to tackle human trafficking. Following MHA advisory, a recent report of 16 states and UTs suggest that 225 AHTUs existed only on paper, and only 27 percent of the AHTUs were operational (Janyala, 2021). While the MHA advisory has triggered more attention among anti-trafficking activists, increasing demands for quickly setting up AHTUs in all districts (Janyala, 2021), yet the highlighted claim of the report (that shows incompetence of AHTUs) indicates that MHA advisory, and demand for establishing AHTUs, is not enough. The proposed intervention is distorted by its failure to account for the colonial legacy and present contestations in policies that conflates the conception of human trafficking with the social control of consenting adult sex work and migration (e.g. see Bhattacherya, 2018; Giammarinaro and Boola, 2018). Successive attempts to reform the legal definition of human trafficking and interventions have resulted in the application of excessive and arbitrary state power and bureaucratic control (Tandon, 2015). These efforts reflect a misplaced focus on law enforcement rather than holistic human-rights based solutions that promote the agency of workers and migrants.

Current policies regarding human trafficking in India carries colonial legacy and resulting harms. For instance, being a colonial construct, established by British Raj that aimed to serve their military, racial and colonial interests (Chang, 2007; Tambe, 2009), the conception of human trafficking was defined  by colonial regimes as the act of abduction and transport of women for prostitution (Irwin, 1996). This definition conflates human trafficking with prostitution, dispossessing  consenting adult sex worker’s concerns and rights (Tambe, 2009). Besides conflation with consenting adult sex work, the colonial prostitution governance created a regulatory system that vested unimpeded authorities to the institutions like Police or its regime, resulting criminalization and incarcerations of sex workers. For instance, Indian Contagious Disease Act of 1868 provided for compulsory registration of sex workers, and entailed being forced to stay back (without work) for an indefinite period, and subjected to incarceration (Banerjee, 2000; Tambe, 2009). The focus of human trafficking interventions on criminalisation of sex work continued and also got support from Indian nationalists, who later favoured laws reflecting a similar conflation of human trafficking and sex work and/or related professions in legislation such as the Madras Hindu Religious Endowments (Amendment) Act of 1929 (Sreenivas, 2011) and/or The Suppression of Immoral Traffic Acts (SITA) during the 1920s and 1930s (Legg, 2014). SITA was reintroduced after India’s independence, and later replaced by the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1986 (ITPA). ITPA carries a parallel colonial legacy and design of SITA, conflating consenting adult sex work with trafficking, except for some minor changes (Cunha, 1987). Along with ITPA, India has also got additional provisions regarding human trafficking, with an amendment in section 370 of Indian Penal Code, which defines human trafficking as:

Whoever, for the purpose of exploitation, recruits, transports, harbors, transfers, or receives, a person or persons, by using threats, or using force, or any other form of coercion, or by abduction, or by practising fraud, or deception, or by abuse of power, or by inducement, including the giving or receiving of payments or benefits, in order to achieve the consent of any person having control over the person recruited, transported, harbored, transferred or received, commits the offence of trafficking. The expression “exploitation” shall include any act of physical exploitation or any form of sexual exploitation, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude. The consent of the victim is immaterial in determination of the offence of trafficking” (Govt. of India, 2013: 5).

This definition in section 370 not only continues conflation of human trafficking with sex work, but introduces its own difficulties: the broad definition captures many persons displaced by forced migration, denies targeted person’s agency, and gives unrestricted power to the state and bureaucratic regime and its institutions, including police. It also encourages a criminalisation approach to tackle trafficking. Indian Government’s National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) collects data and present number of trafficking cases on the basis of this definition of 370. According to data, 95% of trafficked persons in India are forced into prostitution (Divya, 2020). The recent NCRB lists a total of 6,616 human trafficking cases as registered in India, out of which trafficking for the sex trade are highest in numbers (Munshi, 2020). Since these number of cases get registered as per the definition of trafficking in section 370 that conflates with sex work, the reliability of these number thus remains contested. It is because these numbers could include cases of adult sex workers who consented but their consent got denied during anti-trafficking interventions as both ITPA and section 370 allows it. But these figures and legislations do bring workers in sex trade into a situation of selective targeting from anti-trafficking actors and interventions (see GAATW, 2007; The Telegraph, 2017; Chandra, 2018).

The amendment in section 370 made modest but insufficient changes to the definition of trafficking as a response to the recommendation of Verma Committee (Khan, 2015). These changes were also precipitated by India’s commitment to the international actors, after India ratified United Nations’ Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children (UN Protocol) in 2011 (UNODC, 2004). Once again, akin to colonial policies, despite resulting in some improvements in India’s human trafficking or workers’ harsh labour conditions, these changes produced more harm than help. For instance, documented narratives (Sangram, 2018), experiences (Walters, 2018) of the targeted groups, and research (GAATW, 2007; Pai, Seshu and Murthy, 2018; Sangram, 2018; Walters and Ramachandran, 2018) even now showed (re)production of violence and harms in targeted person’s lives because of these contemporary anti-trafficking interventions, of which AHTUs mainly acts central implementing agency.

The intention of settling AHTUs appears to maintain a law enforcement anti-crime structure, as the definitions in ITPA and Section 370 understand trafficking through a criminalisation approach. However, practically, narratives of targeted persons at the local level indicates that this intervention does not promote the goal of human rights and protection of targeted persons.

Narratives from my current ethnographic research that gives epistemic priority to those adult migrant workers who experienced anti-trafficking interventions or are seen as trafficked ‘victims’ in the law (see Najar, 2020, 2021), in construction and sex sector of India, shows that the officials of anti-trafficking units were viewed by such workers as being corrupt and partial to the interests of the perpetrators. For instance, sitting inside her brothel room, Priya (name changed), a migrant cis female adult sexworker, said that “[…] Police is culprit here”. She shared an incidence of previous day that two policemen were harassing a customer and then the customer gave 1000 Indian Rupees to these Policemen. The police then allowed these customers to enter the brothel. She said the Police is a party in the business in that red light area. She also shared that usually work should be upto midnight or 1:00 am. But since the Police take rounds till midnight, there are very few customers who come before that midnight, due to the fear of harrashment from Police. Priya said that here the system is reverse as the market opens after 12, once the police gather their money and leave the place (D4:FW3).  This narrative reflects how a system that gives more power and authority to institutions like police could be appropriated and misused, resulting more harm to the livelihood and rights of workers like Priya, rather ensuring and protecting their  human rights.

Furthermore, state officials were viewed as holding unchecked authority over the targeted person’s decision, choices and trajectory. For example, Reshma, a non-brothel based adult migrant sex worker in Kolkata, who introduced herself as ‘flying sex worker’ while sharing her experiences in my research said that “[…] who knows when they (Police) will start harassing you. Sometime, they stop their vehicle in front of me, ask if I carry Ganja (Marijuana), daaru (alcohol) and talk with me a little and go ahead. But all power is in their hand. If they want, they can take me to the jail by saying that I am 15 years old or I am Bangladeshi (undocumented migrant). No one will come to help me then. They (Police) have the powers. So it’s better to not mess up with them and pay or do the work that they want”. (DW 12: FW11). This narrative indicates the fear and consequences among marginalized migrant workers, because of extra and unaccountable institutionalized authority to agents like police and conflation of policies with consenting adult sex work in India.

Total dependence on AHTUs hence has potential to reproduce situation of harms, resulting in diminished relief to the targeted person (see Sangram, 2018; Walters, 2018; Sen, 2021). Also, authority to and dependence on AHTUs may encourage further corruption, surveillance and control by police, reproducing problematic raid-rescue models and targeting of suspected migrants, especially sex workers, undocumented/informal workers, etc ( for example, see Sen, 2021 that highlights a very recent incident and explains how Police Raid to Rescue interventions Criminalised an Entire Neighbourhood). This situation is possible because the law conflates trafficking with sex work and forced migration, and has disproportionate focus on law enforcement strategies.

The disproportionate focus on law enforcement strategies prevents more structural efforts to grapple with these intersecting issues in a way that recognises the agency of targeted persons. The United Nations special rapporteur on trafficking in persons amplified in her report for a shift in focus away from law enforcement and towards human rights and the protection of victims (Okyere, 2020). United Nations special rapporteur on trafficking in persons in her report also pointed that a new international instrument may be required, because the current international instruments like Palermo protocol may not be sufficient or effective when it comes to considering such human rights goals. Analysing the Special Rapporteur’s argument, Sam Okyere argues “ the Palermo protocol is irredeemably compromised and must be dismantled, rather than reformed. We instead need to strengthen existing international instruments focusing upon workers’ and migrants’ rights and protections. Any new instrument which is developed needs to avoid the trap of making crime fighting a primary goal ” (Okyere, 2020). It thus reflects that current demand to tackle human trafficking and protect migrant’s rights signifies a shift from law enforcement focused intervention to human rights and protection of worker’s rights.

Given the colonial legacy and the continuing concerns arising from successive attempts at law reform, it appears that the current intervention to tackle human trafficking in India by only establishing AHTUs is not enough. India’s strategy to tackle human trafficking and migrant workers’ crisis should not completely and only depends on law enforcement institutions like AHTUs, instead, it also requires a rights based reform that dismantles the colonial legacy of the law which conflates human trafficking and sex work and migration. If Modi government in India fails to reform the policies, and simply promotes an intervention by only setting up law enforcement structures like AHTUs, it would mere be a token response to tackle trafficking and protect migrant worker’s rights, rather than a genuine effort.    

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About the author

Jaffer Latief Najar works as a PhD researcher at International Institute of Social Studies (ISS), The Hague, The Netherlands. He can be reached at twitter: @jafferlatief. Views expressed are personal.

Corrupt government officials are everywhere. Protecting each other and making money off of trafficking. Didn’t know it was that bad in India but of course. The entire world is infected by the trafficking disease and many of the eastern European countries are horrific.

The polarization between rich and poor is always the main issue.

Was hard to read this article, but very interesting. Thanks for doing this work.

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Reducing Child Trafficking in India: The Role of Human Rights Education and Social Work Practice

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Child trafficking is one of the cruelest crimes that could ever be committed. Not only is it a criminal offense throughout the world but it is also a violation of several human rights and child rights. The present article explores the meaning, objectives, and consequences of this abhorrent act along with its prevalence globally and in India. However, the crux of the article is on the role of human rights education and social work practice in arresting the growth of child trafficking in India. Human rights education in India is the need of the hour, especially since it has the capacity to not just enlighten the public about their human rights and the rights of children, and because it can motivate professionals to shoulder their responsibility to reduce the prevalence of child trafficking in the country. Human rights education can also empower vulnerable communities who have been historically denied of their dignity, to rise and protect their children from such crimes. The three major models of human rights education are discussed and how they can be used to address the issue of child trafficking. Finally, the role of social workers in addressing this issue is discussed. Human rights education and social work practice have several facets in common that have the capability to greatly reduce the prevalence of child trafficking in the country.

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Acknowledgements

The author wishes to thank Mr. Nirmal Joseph Das, Manager, International Justice Mission, Bangalore and Mr. Ramachandran Sudalaiyandi, Regional Coordinator, Bangalore Urban & Rural Districts,- Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, for their valuable insights into the current child trafficking scenario in India.

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Krishnan, S.R.G. Reducing Child Trafficking in India: The Role of Human Rights Education and Social Work Practice. J. Hum. Rights Soc. Work 8 , 156–166 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41134-023-00246-3

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Human trafficking and violence: Findings from the largest global dataset of trafficking survivors

Heidi stöckl.

a The Institute for Medical Information Processing, Biometry, and Epidemiology, Medical Faculty, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany

Camilla Fabbri

b Gender Violence & Health Centre, Department of Global Health and Development, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom

c Migrant Protection and Assistance Division International Organization for Migration, Geneva, Switzerland

Claire Galez-Davis

Naomi grant.

d The Freedom Fund, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom

e Institute for Global Health, University College London, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom

Cathy Zimmerman

Human trafficking is a recognized human rights violation, and a public health and global development issue. Violence is often a hallmark of human trafficking. This study aims to describe documented cases of violence amongst persons identified as victims of trafficking, examine associated factors throughout the trafficking cycle and explore prevalence of abuse in different labour sectors.

Methods and findings

The IOM Victim of Trafficking Database (VoTD) is the largest database on human trafficking worldwide. This database is actively used across all IOM regional and country missions as a standardized anti-trafficking case-management tool. This analysis utilized the cases of 10,369 trafficked victims in the VoTD who had information on violence.

The prevalence of reported violence during human trafficking included: 54% physical and/or sexual violence; 50% physical violence; and 15% sexual violence, with 25% of women reporting sexual violence. Experiences of physical and sexual violence amongst trafficked victims were significantly higher amongst women and girls (AOR 2.48 (CI: 2.01,3.06)), individuals in sexual exploitation (AOR 2.08 (CI: 1.22,3.54)) and those experiencing other forms of abuse and deprivation, such as threats (AOR 2.89 (CI: 2.10,3.98)) and forced use of alcohol and drugs (AOR 2.37 (CI: 1.08,5.21)). Abuse was significantly lower amongst individuals trafficked internationally (AOR 0.36 (CI: 0.19,0.68)) and those using forged documents (AOR 0.64 (CI: 0.44,0.93)). Violence was frequently associated with trafficking into manufacturing, agriculture and begging (> 55%).

Conclusions

An analysis of the world's largest data set on trafficking victims indicates that violence is indeed prevalent and gendered. While these results show that trafficking-related violence is common, findings suggest there are patterns of violence, which highlights that post-trafficking services must address the specific support needs of different survivors.

1. Introduction

Human trafficking is a recognized human rights violation, and a public health and global development issue. Target 8.7 of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals calls for states to take immediate and effective measures to eradicate trafficking, forced labour and modern slavery ( Griggs et al., 2013 ).

Human trafficking has been defined by the United Nations’ Palermo Protocol as a process that involves the recruitment and movement of people-by force, coercion, or deception—for the purpose of exploitation ( United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime 2000 ).

Estimating the scale of human trafficking is difficult, due to the hidden nature of this crime and challenges associated with the definition. As a result, available estimates are contested ( Jahic and Finckenauer, 2005 ). According to data on identified victims of trafficking from the Counter-Trafficking Data Collaborative ( International Organization for Migration 2019 ), nearly half of the victims report being trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation, while 39% report forced labour, and the most common sectors of work included: domestic work (30%), construction (16%), agriculture (10%) and manufacturing (9%). Women and girls account for almost all those trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation, and 71% of those report violence ( International Organization for Migration 2019 ; International Labour Organization 2017 ; UNODC 2018 ).

Current data confirm that prevalence of violence is high amongst survivors, although few studies have investigated causal mechanisms related to violence in labour and sexual exploitation ( Kiss et al., 2015 ; Oram et al., 2012 ; Stöckl et al., 2017 ; Ottisova et al., 2016 ). Victims often report experiences of emotional, physical and sexual abuse throughout the various stages of the human trafficking cycle, from recruitment through travel and destination points, to release and reintegration ( Ottisova et al., 2016 ). Currently, evidence is scarce on the patterns of violence across different types of trafficking, despite its importance for more tailored assistance to survivors once they are in a position to receive post-trafficking support.

This study aims to close this evidence gap by describing documented cases of violence amongst trafficking survivors and describe associated factors, drawing on the largest global database to date, the IOM's Victim of Trafficking Database (VoTD).

2.1. Data source

The IOM VoTD is the largest database on human trafficking worldwide. Actively used across all IOM regional and country missions, VoTD is a standardized anti-trafficking case-management tool that monitors assistance for victims of trafficking. In certain contexts, IOM identifies victims at transit centres or following their escape, while in other settings IOM mainly provides immediate assistance following referral by another organization or long-term reintegration assistance. This routinely collected data includes information on various aspects of victims’ experiences, including background characteristics, entry into the trafficking process, movement within and across borders, sectors of exploitation, experiences of abuse, and activities or work at destination.

The primary purpose of IOM's VoTD is to support assistance to trafficked victims, not to collect survey data. It does not represent a standardized survey tool or research programme, and therefore, the quality and completeness of the data vary substantially between registered individuals. IOM case workers often enter data retrospectively and its quality may therefore be affected by large caseloads on staff working with limited resources. In addition, the VoTD sample may be biased by the regional distribution of IOM's missions and by the local focus on certain types of trafficking. For example, in the past, women were a near-exclusive target of IOM's assistance programs due to a focus on sexual exploitation. However, over time, the identification of trafficking victims has increasingly included individuals subjected to forced labour. Nevertheless, in the countries where IOM provides direct assistance to victims of trafficking, VoTD data are broadly representative of the identified victim population in that country and are still the most representative data with the widest global coverage on human trafficking.

Between 2002 and mid-2018, the VoTD registered 49,032 victims of trafficking, with nearly complete records for 26,067 records which provide information on whether individuals reported being exploited, with exploitation other than sexual and labour exploitation, such as organ trafficking or forced marriage accounting for less than five percent of the overall dataset. A bivariate analysis to identify patterns in the distribution of missing data found that missing values spanned across all variables of the data and no specific pattern regarding countries of exploitation or origin emerged that could explain the source of missing data.

2.2. Theory

This study relied on an adapted version of the Zimmerman et al. (2011) theoretical framework on human trafficking and health that comprises four basic stages: recruitment; travel and transit; exploitation; and the reintegration or integration stages; with sub-stages for some trafficked people who become caught up in detention or re-trafficking stages. The modified framework in Fig. 1 displays the three stages of the human trafficking process: recruitment, travel and transit and exploitation and displays the factors associated with experiences of violence during the trafficking process.

Stages of human trafficking adapted from Zimmerman et al. (2011) , incorporating variable coding.

2.3. Measures

The VoTD dataset includes survivors’ responses about whether they experienced physical or sexual violence during any stage of the trafficking process. Information available on trafficked persons’ pre-departure characteristics, risk factors at transit and exploitation stage are outlined in Fig. 1 with their respective coding. Reports on exploitation only include the last form of exploitation a victim of trafficking experienced. It is however possible to report more than one type of exploitation for the most recent situation.

The research team made a substantial effort to code and clean the data, working closely with IOM's data management team. IOM's database refers to the VoTD cases as ‘victims’ as IOM caseworkers follow the Palermo Protocol in their determination and this is the language of the Protocol, recognising the debates around the terminology victims versus survivors ( International Organization for Migration 2014 ). The secondary data analysis of the IOM VoTD data received ethical approval from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine ethical review board.

2.4. Data analysis

To estimate the prevalence of physical or sexual violence or both, as reported by trafficked victims in the VoTD, the analysis was restricted to the 10,369 victims with data available on experiences of physical and/or sexual violence. In total, 94 countries of exploitation were reported, covering the whole globe, including high-, middle- and low-income countries. Descriptive statistics highlight the characteristics of trafficked victims in total and by gender. Associations with physical and/or sexual violence have been calculated using unadjusted odds ratios. Only variables with a significant association with reports of physical and/or sexual violence in the unadjusted odds ratios were included into a staged logistic regression model. The staged logistic regression model aimed to show whether characteristics at pre-departure only or pre-departure and transit remain significantly associated with experiences of physical and/or sexual violence during human trafficking. A separate bivariate analysis was conducted between reported experiences of violence and sectors of exploitation due to the low number of responses for sectors of exploitation. In both the bivariate and multivariate logistic regressions, a p-value below 0.05 is taken to indicate significance.

Of the 10,369 trafficked victims included in this analysis, 89% were adults, of whom 54% were female. The prevalence of reported violence during human trafficking is high: 54% reported physical and/or sexual violence, 50% reported physical violence, and 15% sexual violence. Table 1 shows that more female victims report physical (54% versus 45%) and sexual (25% versus 2%) violence than men, both overall and amongst minors. amongst minors, 52% of girls reported physical violence and 27% sexual violence, compared to 39% and 8%, respectively amongst boys.

Prevalence of violence amongst victims of exploitation.

Pre-departure characteristics, displayed in Table 2 , show that most trafficked persons were in their twenties and thirties, and 17% were minors. amongst all VoTD cases, 75% self-identified as poor before their trafficking experience and 16% as very poor. Records show that 39% were married before they were trafficked. Of the total sample, 40% had achieved a secondary education. The majority reported that they were recruited into the trafficking process (79%), crossed an international border (92%) and were trafficked with others (75%). Forged documents were used in the trafficking process by 10% of trafficked persons. Most victims reported forced labour, 56% of whom were male. Of the 33% who were trafficked into sexual exploitation, 98% were female. Six percent reported they were trafficked into both labour and sexual exploitation. Victims reported a variety of abuses while trafficked, with 60% indicating they were subjected to threats against themselves or their family, 79% were deceived, 76% were denied movement, food or medical attention, 4% were given alcohol and/or drugs, 60% had documents confiscated and 35% reported situations of debt bondage.

Characteristics of trafficked persons at different stages of the trafficking stages for victims.

Exponentiated coefficients; 95% confidence intervals in brackets

Physical and/or sexual violence was significantly associated with being female, young age and self-reported high socio-economic status. More specifically, individuals between ages 18 and 24 are significantly more likely to report violence than those aged 25 to 34 and individuals aged 35 to 49 are less likely to report violence than those aged 25 to 34. Victims reporting their socio-economic status as well-off compared to poor before departure, were significantly more likely to report abuse during their trafficking experience. Crossing one border and using forged documents were all significantly associated with fewer reports of violence during the trafficking experience, while being in sexual exploitation and reporting any other forms of control or abuse during the exploitation stage increased the likelihood of violence reports.

Considering all pre-departure characteristics together, controlling for each other, being female and higher socio-economic status remained significantly associated with reports of physical and/or sexual violence (Model 1, Table 3 ), although only being female remained significant once transit and exploitation factors were taken into account. Controlling for other factors at the transit and exploitation stage, using forged documents remained significantly associated with fewer reports of violence as did most forms of abuses at the exploitation stage such as threats and being forced to take drugs and alcohol. Being in sexual exploitation or both sexual and labour exploitation versus labour alone also remained significant.

Association between trafficking characteristics and physical and/or sexual violence.

Exponentiated coefficients; 95% confidence intervals in brackets. * p < 0.05 ** p < 0.01 *** p < 0.001.

Availability of data on sectors of exploitation was limited. The separate analysis on the prevalence of physical and/or sexual violence in Table 4 displays high reports of violence from those trafficked into sexual exploitation, domestic work, manufacturing, agriculture and begging. Sexual violence was most often reported by victims trafficked into domestic work and the hospitality sector.

Prevalence of violence amongst victims of exploitation by activity sector.

“The opinions expressed in the article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The designations employed and the presentation of material throughout the report do not imply expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of IOM concerning legal status of any country, territory, city or area, or of its authorities, or concerning its frontiers or boundaries.”

4. Discussion

Our analysis of the world's largest trafficking victim data set indicates that physical and sexual violence is indeed prevalent in cases of human trafficking, as 52% of the trafficking cases included reports of physical and/or sexual violence. It is noteworthy that nearly half (48%) of survivors did not report violence, indicating that human trafficking does not necessariliy have to involve physical or sexual violence. It is important to recall that 60% of survivors reported being subjected to threats to themselves or their family, a potential explanation for the lack of reports of phyiscal and/or sexual violence. Our analyses also suggest that trafficking-related violence is gendered, as higher levels of abuse were reported by female survivors and in sectors in which women and girls are commonly exploited: sex work and domestic work. It is also noteworthy that sexual violence is an issue amongst trafficked men below the age of 18, indicating the importance of investigating human trafficking by both gender and age and by sector of exploitation.

The prevalence of physical and/or sexual violence found in this study corresponds with the prevalence range reported in a 2016 systematic review, which found rates between 12% to 96% ( Oram et al., 2012 ) and in Kiss et al's 2014 three-country survey of male, female and child trafficking survivors in post-trafficking services in the Mekong. In Kiss et al., 48% reported physical and/or sexual violence, with women reporting higher rates of sexual violence than men ( Kiss et al., 2015 ).

Findings also indicated several contradictions related to common generalisations related to vulnerability to trafficking, which often suggest that the poorest and least educated are at greatest risk of trafficking  ( Passos et al., 2020 ). However, our analysis indicated that 40% of those who were trafficked had a secondary education and only 16% self-identified as very poor. Interestingly, when considering who was most at risk of abuse during trafficking, victims who were younger, between ages 18–24, seemed to experience higher levels of violence, perhaps indicating that those who were more mature were more compliant.

Our study also offers new insights about violence that occurs before individuals arrive at the destination of exploitation. Our study highlights that physical or sexual violence is also associated with factors at the recruitment and transit stage of the trafficking process, such as socio-economic status, crossing international borders and the use of forged documents. The latter contradicts current assumptions that are applied in trafficking awareness and training activities, which warn prospective migrants about international trafficking and against the use of forged documents ( Kiss et al., 2019 ). There are a number of possible explanations for this finding on forged documents. First, it is possible that having used forged documents gives traffickers the ability to threaten their victims with arrest or imprisonment because of their illegal status versus using physical abuse. The study found that internal trafficking was associated with a higher prevalence of violence. To interpret this, it is necessary to consider the general population or work-related prevalence of violence in countries from where the victims originate. If their countries of origin have higher levels of violence, this may make individuals less likely to report what they might consider to be minor workplace abuses ( Paasche et al., 2018 ). Similarly, violence in sex work and domestic work may have been related to socially normative abuse patterns and general prevalence of violence in these sectors and locations to which individuals were trafficked ( Kaur-Gill and Dutta, 2020 ). For abuse in situations of commercial sexual exploitation, a sector in which violence was reportedly most prevalent ( Platt et al., 2018 ), victims were likely to have been subjected to abuses by traffickers (e.g., pimps, managers, brothel owners) and clients at levels relative to general levels of abuse in that sector in that location. Likewise, women trafficked into domestic work, would have been exposed to violence from members of the household, a behaviour that is rarely condemned or punished in countries where trafficking into domestic work is common.

It is also possible that the levels of violence experienced by trafficked persons are proportional to the degree of control the exploiter feels he needs to exert over the victim. In that sense, trafficking victims who have more resources or capabilities to leave an exploitative situation may be the ones who experience higher levels of violence. For example, people with greater economic resources may have a greater ability to leave and may also have a social network that can support their exit process. Sexual exploitation may take a higher degree of coercion over victims, which would make threats and violence a useful tactic to keep them in the situation.

The VoTD is a unique dataset on human trafficking. However, it is useful to recognise that the VoTD is a case-management database and not systematically collected survey data. Data is limited to single-item assessments rather than validated instruments to capture complex situations and experiences and often entered retrospectively by caseworkers. For example, socio-economic background was self-assessed through four options only and recruitment through a single question. It is for this reasons that we did not include emotional abuse into our measurement of violence – given the lack of internationally agreed definitions of emotional abuse, we could not be certain that case workers recognize and enter all experiences of emotional abuse uniformly across the globe. Furthermore, the VoTD is cross-sectional in nature and does not allow to infer causality with respect to the factors associated with experiences of violence during the trafficking process. The VoTD is not representative of the overall population of trafficking victims, as it only captures individuals who have been identified as trafficked and who were in contact with post-trafficking services.

Despite these limitations, the analysis highlights the importance of large-scale administrative datasets in future international human trafficking research to complement in-depth qualitative studies. Our analysis suggests the urgent need for clearer and more consistent use of definitions, tools, and measures in human trafficking research, particularly related to socio-economic background, what is meant by ‘recruitment’ and ‘emotional abuse’. In particular, there is a need for international standards and guidance for recording and processing administrative data on human trafficking for research purposes. Prospective donors must also recognize that record-keeping is part of care cost, and support it through grant-making. This will allow frontline organizations to invest in information management systems, staff training, and record keeping policies and protocols. If frontline agencies are to provide data for research purposes, beyond those which are necessary for delivering protection services for victims, additional resources should be considered.

Our study reiterates the importance of psychological outcomes resulting from violence in cases of human trafficking, which has been identified in many other site-specific studies ( Ottisova et al., 2016 ). Yet, despite these common findings, and the world's commitment to eradicate human trafficking in the Sustainable Development Goal 8.7, to date, there has been extremely little evidence to identify what types of post-trafficking support works for whom in which settings. For instance, there have been few robust experimental studies to determine what helps different individuals in different contexts grapple with the psychological aftermath of human trafficking, even amidst growing number of post-trafficking reintegration programs and policies ( Okech et al., 2018 ; Rafferty, 2021 ). Given the increasing amount of case data from many programs working with survivors, organisations will have to produce more systematically collected case data to ensure findings are relevant and useful for future post-trafficking psychological support for distress and disorders, such as PTSD and depression.

Furthermore, the data indicate that abuses may occur throughout the trafficking cycle, which suggests that victim-sensitive policy responses to human trafficking are required at places of origin, transit and, particularly at destination, when different forms of violence often go undetected. Our findings also underline the need for post-trafficking policies and services that recognise the variation in trafficking experiences, particularly the health implications of abuse for many survivors. Ultimately, because of the global magnitude of human trafficking and the prevalence of abuse in cases of trafficking, human trafficking needs to be treated as a public health concern ( Kiss and Zimmerman, 2019 ). Moreover, because survivors’ experiences of violence varied amongst men, women and children and across settings, it will be important to design services that meet individuals’ varying needs, designing context specific interventions ( Kiss and Zimmerman, 2019 ; Greenbaum et al., 2017 ).

5. Conclusion

This study offers substantial new insights on the patterns of physical and/or sexual violence amongst trafficking survivors. By highlighting the linkages between violence and associated factors at different stages of the trafficking process, our findings emphasise the importance of understanding the entire human trafficking process so that intervention planning can more accurately assess opportunities to prevent trafficking-related harm, improve assessments of survivor service needs, and increase well-targeted survivor-centred care. Ultimately, while these results suggest patterns can be observed, they also show that trafficking is a wide-ranging and far-reaching crime that requires responses that are well-developed based on individuals’ different experiences.

The study was funded by a Freedom Fund grant to the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the International Organization for Migration.

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Human trafficking: results of a 5-year theory-based evaluation of interventions to prevent trafficking of women from south asia.

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Corrigendum: Human trafficking: Results of a 5-year theory-based evaluation of interventions to prevent trafficking of women from South Asia

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• 1 Gender Violence & Health Centre, Department of Global Health & Development, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom
• 2 Lumos Foundation, London, United Kingdom
• 3 Faculty of Population Health Science, Institute for Global Health, University College London, London, United Kingdom

Preventing modern slavery is of global interest, but evidence on interventions remains weak. This paper presents findings from a 5-year theory-based evaluation of an empowerment and knowledge-building intervention to prevent the exploitation of South Asian female migrant workers. The evaluation used realist evaluation techniques to examine the intervention mechanisms, outcomes, and context. Findings from qualitative and quantitative data from Nepal, India, and Bangladesh indicate that the intervention mechanisms (trainings) were not well-targeted, not delivered by appropriate trainers, and did not address participants' expectations or concerns. The outcomes of empowerment and migration knowledge were not achieved due to poor integration of context-related factors, flawed assumptions about the power inequalities, including barriers preventing women from asserting their rights. Ultimately, interventions to prevent exploitation of migrant workers should be developed based on strong evidence about the social, political, and economic realities of their migration context, especially in destination settings.

Introduction

Human trafficking is a global phenomenon that touches most corners of the world, with ~40.3 million individuals estimated to be in situations of forced labor and forced marriage—broadly referred to as “modern slavery” ( 1 ). Studies over the past two decades have increasingly documented the physical, psychological, and socioeconomic harm caused by extreme exploitation, which generally affects the world's most vulnerable adults and children ( 2 , 3 ). Yet, there is astonishingly limited evidence on “what works” to prevent these abuses or to address the consequences ( 4 ). In a recent systematic review including 90 reports on trafficking programs, the authors concluded that organizations are still “struggling to demonstrate impact and discern what works to combat human trafficking” ( 5 ). Similarly, a Rapid Evidence Review of interventions in South Asia noted that “…the outcomes from the reviewed studies alone cannot be used as recommendations for policy and practice on trafficking…” ( 6 ). These findings undoubtedly come as disheartening news to the many policy-makers and donors who seek evidence-informed avenues to meet the 2030 Sustainable Development Goal Target 8.7, which aims to eradicate forced labor, end modern slavery and human trafficking, and secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labor.

Human Trafficking in Nepal, India, and Bangladesh

The Asia and the Pacific region account for over half of the ~24.9 million people in forced labor globally. India is estimated to have the largest number of persons in modern slavery globally at 8 million, compared with an estimated 592,000 in Bangladesh and 171,000 in Nepal ( 7 ). Among those in situations of forced labor, the largest prevalence, 24%, are estimated to be in domestic work ( 1 ), where exploitation by employers and labor intermediaries are common.

Awareness and Knowledge-Building Antitrafficking Interventions

Premigration community-based awareness and knowledge building activities have been particularly popular among implementing agencies and donors because they are of relatively low risk and can reach large populations at fairly low cost ( 8 ). Safe-migration interventions are generally based on the assumption that if people had better knowledge about migration-related risks and regulations and knew their rights, they could avoid trafficking-related abuses and migrate safely ( 9 ). However, to date, there is no robust evidence that premigration knowledge promotes safer migration ( 9 – 12 ). Of activities that have been assessed, to whatever extent, the vast majority of evaluations has only measured outputs (e.g., number of sessions and participants) and intermediate outcomes (e.g., immediate levels of knowledge and awareness). No evaluations have measured how increased awareness or knowledge affects individual behaviors and, in turn, how different behaviors might affect incidence or prevalence of human trafficking or modern slavery ( 13 ). Studies examining awareness-raising and knowledge-building activities, including those using experimental designs, have stopped at the point of assessing whether messages were learned by the participants vs. tracking how the new knowledge was applied or measuring how it affected migration-related safety or trafficking outcomes ( 10 , 14 , 15 ). To date, there are no data indicating modifiable factors or actionable targets to reduce “vulnerability” to trafficking. Studies attempting to identify determinants have cited primarily broad development problems, such as “low income; few economic opportunities, and instability of the local economy” ( 16 ) or ‘'poverty,” “gender,” and “age” ( 9 ). Unfortunately, these insights are not particularly helpful for anti-trafficking programming because they could relate to most ailments in low-resource settings, which development programmes have been trying to address for decades. Moreover, for intervention purposes, these broad determinants are not generally actionable within current anti-trafficking budgets or timeframes.

SWIFT Study of the Work in Freedom Program in South Asia

The South Asia Work in Freedom Transnational Evaluation (SWIFT) was a 5-year program of research and evaluation in Nepal, India, and Bangladesh of the International Labor Organisation's (ILO) Work in Freedom Programme (WIF) ( 17 ). The SWIFT evaluation was conducted independently and sought to answer the question: How do the WIF community-based prevention interventions influence women's risk of forced labor (modern slavery) in domestic work and garment sectors? SWIFT is the first evaluation to follow a large-scale, multicountry trafficking intervention, from conception to implementation, using theory-based mixed-methods approaches. The WIF program theory was based on the concept that trafficking could be prevented by predeparture community activities comprised of women's empowerment strategies, including training on the value of women's work, the costs and benefits of migration, safe and informed migration, women's rights and workers' rights and knowledge, and skills capacity building ( 18 ). Sessions in some sites also included components to improve women's ability to make informed livelihood decisions either by equipping them to migrate safely or access to local livelihood options if they did not want to migrate. This paper analyses the combined SWIFT theory-based evaluation findings across the three country intervention settings, namely, India, Nepal, and Bangladesh, and examines the intervention theory, context, mechanisms, and outcomes. WIF in India focused on internal migration, while in Nepal and Bangladesh, the target was international migration.

Theory and Methods

SWIFT applied a mixed methods theory-based approach to evaluate the theory and implementation of the WIF program. Specifically, SWIFT investigated the validity of the intervention's theory and underlying assumptions that labor trafficking could be reduced or eliminated by enhancing women's autonomy and generating adoption of safe migration practices ( Figure 1 ). SWIFT examined whether empirical evidence supported the theory that migrant women's greater awareness and knowledge would decrease their risk of exploitation and explored implementation, causal pathways, and detectable effects on knowledge transfer, uptake, and application. Findings were intended to inform future replication and scale-up.

Figure 1 . Work in Freedom (WIF) theory, assumptions, and activities evaluated using theory-based methods.

A theory-based realist evaluation design was selected because of the early stage of intervention development and the programmatic need for evidence on intervention designs and implementation. Several important considerations influenced the evaluation design. First, the space–time complexity of human trafficking demands research approaches that integrate causal thinking to capture the complex causes–effects interactions vs. methods that tend to isolate single causes of observed effects ( 19 , 20 ). Second, many core components of the intervention were still under development, and the main outcome was relatively undefined at the start of WIF implementation. Third, at the start of WIF, there was little evidence on risks and protective factors to support the hypothesized causal pathways from empowerment to protection against exploitation , which meant that focusing on effectiveness measurement would not provide useful results ( 21 ). That is, even if our evaluation indicated some level of intervention effectiveness, we would not know if it could work elsewhere ( 22 ). If the evaluation did not find positive results, we would not know whether there was a problem with the implementation or with the theory. Fourth, the intervention's feasibility, acceptability, and uptake had not been previously assessed to justify a complex and costly experimental design, making it very difficult to assess external validity. Fifth, collection of SWIFT monitoring data specifically for the evaluation was not possible due to local constraints. Consequently, we could not conduct a process-outcome evaluation, which could have allowed us to more rigorously investigate processes of change, assess quality of implementation, and identify contextual factors linked to variations in outcomes ( 23 ).

Thus, to capture the subject's complexity, the nascent stage of the intervention, and to achieve the explanatory power needed, we used a multisite mixed-methods design and adopted innovative analytical approaches, which served as strong tools for reasoning under uncertainty ( 24 ). Following realist principles, we did not expect to find a definitive answer to the question of what works to prevent human trafficking but rather aimed to investigate what mechanisms were relevant to preventing human trafficking in the intervention contexts ( 25 ). The intended “impact,” women who choose to migrate for work are “empowered and informed to find safe and decent employment,” was the ceiling of accountability 1 for the WIF program vs. “prevention of trafficking” (see Figure 1 ). Using data from the three countries, we examined constraints and enablers for the immediate training outcomes (empowerment and information) and to the ultimate intended impact (reduced trafficking).

Forced Labor Measurement

To assess prevalence and types of exploitation within our study population, we followed the ILO's guidance by assessing three dimensions of forced labor: (1) unfree recruitment, (2) work and life under duress, and (3) impossibility of leaving the employer ( 27 ). For each dimension, a range of involuntariness and penalty indicators were measured, and these were classified as medium or strong, according to the ILO guidelines. Indicators were constructed from a number of questions asked in the survey about specific individual experiences ( 28 ). Participants who reported at least one indicator of involuntariness and one penalty within a dimension, of which one was a strong indicator, were defined as having experienced that dimension of forced labor. Experience of any one of the three dimensions constitutes forced labor ( 27 ).

Study Methods for Each Study Site

In Nepal, formative research was conducted in collaboration with the Centre for the Study of Labour and Mobility, Social Science Baha (CESLAM) in the district of Dolakha prior to the rollout of the community component of the WIF intervention. The formative research was conducted to provide initial prevalence figures on migration, as such data were not available. Subsequent research was conducted in three of the five WIF districts, Chitwan, Rupandehi, and Morang and included 519 returnee migrants who had previously migrated internationally for work purposes and 340 prospective migrants who planned to migrate internationally for work. Qualitative semistructured interviews were also carried out with 55 of the prospective migrant women who participated in the survey, of which six were reinterviewed following their attendance of the WiF 2-day training. Participants interviewed for the prospective migrant survey were followed up by telephone to track their migration process, including after their departure from Nepal. At the first follow-up, 188 women were reached, representing an attrition rate of 45%. Of the 188 women, one-third reported that they were no longer planning to migrate, reducing the sample size to 130. At the second follow-up, only 10 women participated, and the data were not included in further analysis.

In India, surveys were conducted in collaboration with the Centre for Women's Development Studies (CWDS) with 4,671 households, including detailed survey interviews with 1,218 women and 1,156 men in 20 probabilistically selected villages across the Ganjam District of Odisha. Among the participants, 112 women and 429 men had previously migrated ( 29 ). Pre- and posttraining questionnaires were also administered with women ( N = 347) who participated in WIF's 2-day premigration training session. To gage awareness levels, participants were asked a single question relevant to a concept and asked to answer free form in their own words, i.e., interviewers did not read out item lists. For example, to examine awareness of the benefits of migrating for work, women were asked: “What would you say are the main benefits of moving away from home to take up work somewhere else?” Enumerators could then select any of nine benefits that women could name ( 30 ). Vignettes were also used in some questions prior to eliciting women's awareness of particular concepts. Such depersonalization encouraged participants to reflect beyond their own individual circumstances, which is particularly useful when discussing sensitive topics ( 31 ).

In Bangladesh, qualitative research was carried out in collaboration with Drishti Research Centre, in three research sites in the district of Narayanganj: (i) a rural area; (ii) a former resettlement area for Dhaka slum dwellers—now an industrial district; and (iii) a densely populated semiurban area. The team conducted ethnographic observations and interviewed a cohort of 40 migrant women who participated in the WIF training and stated intentions to migrate. Women were interviewed five times between December 2015 and May 2017 ( 32 ).

In the intervention sites in Nepal and Bangladesh, most women who migrated internationally were engaged in domestic work. In the India intervention sites, most women migrated internally and the largest portion worked in construction.

Analysis for each research component was conducted and reported separately by country. In this paper, we conducted a synthesis of findings across the different studies, based on principles of realist evaluation. We consider the implications for future prevention interventions designed to inform and empower women to find safe and decent work and, in turn, avoid abuse and exploitation at destination.

Using the formative data collected in Nepal, we estimated key characteristics of migrant households and returnee migrants, including prevalence of labor migration, and findings on remittances, mobile phone use, common work sectors, and reported injuries ( 33 ). In the other three sites, we examined migration planning among prospective Nepali migrant women by comparing first-time and repeat migration using logistic regressions controlling for district, time until proposed departure, and age. Further methodological detail is available elsewhere ( 34 ).

To analyze past labor experiences and remigration intentions among Nepali returnee women, we examined their remigration intentions against their experiences (or not) of forced labor during their most recent migration. We used Bayesian networks to model the Nepal returnee dataset to examine causal interactions between variables and make predictions about the effect of potential interventions. We used multivariate logistic regression to examine the association between forced labor experience and speaking the destination's language among women who migrated to Arabic-speaking countries. The model was adjusted for destination country and work sector, based on the conceptual framework and findings published in the article by Kiss et al. ( 20 ).

Thematic analysis was used to analyze semistructured interviews in Nepal, and discourse and thematic analysis were used to analyze interviews in Bangladesh ( 32 , 35 ).

Descriptive analysis was used to describe the context of WIF's implementation in Odisha. We calculated the number of migrant households, prevalence of migration, predeparture indicators, working conditions, and prevalence of forced labor among migrants by gender. To analyze the pre- and posttraining data, we used descriptive analysis and unadjusted analyses (paired t -tests, McNemar's tests, Wilcoxon signed ranks tests) to estimate the differences in scores before and after predeparture awareness training. Adjusted analyses used mixed effects models to explore whether receiving information on workers' rights or working away from home prior to the training was associated with changes in before-and-after scores. Further information on analysis is available elsewhere ( 30 ).

We report overall findings using the Context–Mechanism–Outcome framework in realist evaluation ( 36 ). We first describe findings by Mechanisms of WIF, followed by the interventions Outcomes, before describing how context affected both mechanisms and outcomes in the Context section. We first describe findings on the intervention's mechanism rather than initially focusing on the context to reflect the way in which WIF was conceived and presented to stakeholders, in 2013. WIF's design relied on the scarce body of evidence that the field had accumulated at that time, in addition to inputs from researchers and practitioners in the field. These inputs were used to determine the mechanisms that were deemed effective to prevent trafficking (the intervention's intended impact). Contextual variables were not part of these initial discussions and were also absent in the first iterations of the program's theory of change and log frame. The basic assumption that guided the development of WIF's community-based component was that women's empowerment would lead to reduced incidence of trafficking.

Mechanisms of WIF

This section describes the main characteristics or mechanisms of the WIF intervention, i.e., what it was about the WIF interventions that brought about any effects in empowerment and information outcomes, and on the incidence of human trafficking in each intervention context. WIF's proposed mechanism was that predeparture training, targeting prospective migrants, would empower women, make them aware of their migration circumstances, thus changing their migration behavior, and ultimately protect them from human trafficking. We describe below the results from our research that relate to WIF's mechanisms, based on Dalkin et al. ( 37 ) conceptualization of mechanisms in realist evaluations ( 37 ). That is, we examine the mechanisms both as the resources offered by the intervention and the ways in which these resources change the reasoning of participants.

Intervention Content

In each country, the training was designed as premigration decision-making or premigration preparation sessions for prospective migrants, which aimed to help participants consider local employment opportunities, the pros and cons of migration, practical migration preparation, common problems encountered during migration, and emergency contacts. In Nepal, prospective migrants who completed the survey were followed by phone over time to track their migration planning and process. At the first follow-up interview, 50% of those reached reported having attended the WIF training ( n = 94/188) and noted that the most important information they received was related to the documents required to migrate (62%) and legal travel routes (40%) ( 38 ). In India, while the training was well-received, with 95% of participants reporting that they learned information about migrating safely that they did not know before, assessments of participant learning indicated that all knowledge domains covered by the training remained low after the training (see Outcomes below) ( 30 ). In Bangladesh, although some women appreciated the content of the training, they often did not think the guidance was relevant to their lives, and some found certain information to be incorrect. As noted by one participant in Bangladesh who was informed of local livelihood options that did not materialize: “We can now tell anyone who wants to hear, that all these beautiful words about getting a loan are pure lies” ( 32 ).

There were also misperceptions about a “hotline” at destination in case of emergencies, which, for some, had serious implications, as in the case of one Bangladeshi woman who had migrated to a Gulf State:

Eleven days after arrival, a distressed Shikha [alias] called her husband and her mother and asks to be repatriated, who contacted the NGO fieldworker. She recommends that they let the phone keep ringing because Shikha is acting childishly and is not taking sufficient time to adjust. Shikha also calls the NGO helpline from the employer's home. The NGO social worker does not seem to understand the sexual abuse that Shikha cannot reveal ( 32 ).

While there was a “hotline” as promised, the support workers' ability to respond was not sufficient to meet this woman's actual needs. Similarly, in Nepal, women attending the training felt safer to migrate after having heard about contact details of the implementing partners because they believed they would be rescued if needed ( 39 ).

Target Participants

Participants for whom WIF intervention content was largely irrelevant were recruited across sites, which likely affected retention and interest in program messages. The WIF intervention's target participants were identified and recruited by local organizations commissioned by the WIF program. For example, in Nepal, peer educators conducted house-to-house visits to identify women interested in migrating, who would then be invited to the 2-day WIF training. This broad targeting approach, which treated all women of working age as potential migrants, was deliberate due to the stigma associated with women's labor migration and the need to achieve a maximum number of participants to meet donor obligations. Unsurprisingly, findings from Nepal suggest that many who were identified as “prospective migrants” did not actually have any clear plans to migrate but rather a loose idea of considering migration if the opportunity arises. Among the 188 women interviewed during follow-up surveys, only one-third ( n = 58) stated that they still intended to migrate, while 15% ( n = 27) had arrived at their destination. This somewhat loose participant selection process inevitably raised questions about the extent to which the participants were appropriately targeted and selected, which may also have had the knock-on effect of lowering women's uptake of the training information. Among 347 training participants in India, just 10.4% had thoughts of moving away from their village before the training, which also reflected low female outmigration patterns in which only 7% of households had a female migrant ( 30 ). As with Nepal participants, the low proportion of training participants considering migration likely indicates poor participant identification. Poor intervention targeting was also reflected by the low numbers of women who actually migrated for domestic work in the India study site (vs. construction and agriculture, which were not WIF's focused sectors).

Participants also seemed to have mixed motives for agreeing to attend the training sessions. For instance, several participants in Bangladesh indicated that they joined primarily for the free meal. Numerous participants also had misguided expectations of the “premigration training,” explaining that they thought the training would provide them direct assistance to migrate. As a Bangladeshi participant noted: “I went to the [NGO] training hoping I would get a visa and they would help me to migrate but got nothing… [the NGO] needed us… Now they are finished with us.” As she indicated, some perceived that their participation was more beneficial to the program than to themselves ( 32 ).

Implementation

Each 2-day training program was implemented on a specific date and time, which may have meant that participants were receiving the information too far in advance of their possible travel to retain the knowledge when they needed it. In Nepal and India, the training sessions focused on helping women decide whether or not to migrate, which meant some would only be deciding to migrate after the training. As noted by one Bangladeshi participant: “I liked everything about the training. The way the sister talked, the food…. But if you ask me what was said I could not tell you. I forgot most of it.” The migration planning process can happen very quickly or extend over a year or more, suggesting that “one-off” interventions may not meet actual needs as well as ongoing services and guidance. In India, training was very well-received, with 98.8% stating that they could follow along and understand the information given and 94.1% reporting that they would recommend the training to other women, but at the same time, there were extraordinarily low levels of actual learning (see Outcomes below).

Observations about implementation also raised questions about whether the sessions were delivered by the right trainers. In a number of the sites, the training sessions were led by women who were of a higher socioeconomic class than the participants and who rarely if ever had their own migration experience. This social class difference may have led to participants' reluctance to accept some of the messages because of the messenger—especially messages pertaining to rights and empowerment. As one participant in Bangladesh explained: “I liked what they said about rights. There is nothing wrong with these beautiful words. But this kind of talk is not for us. It is good for educated people like you [pointing to the researcher]. What do we do with these nice words? We cannot implement them.” In Nepal, the training sessions were conducted by a peer educator from the implementing partner, alongside a social mobilizer who may or may not have had migration experience. In India, training sessions were conducted by implementing NGO's staff, and it was unclear whether any had migration experience.

Outcomes of WIF

WIF's intended outcome was “Women are empowered to make informed migration decisions and an enabling environment is created for their safe migration into decent work.” The program's theory relied on the premise that this outcome would lead to the intended impact of “reduced incidence of trafficking of women and girls within and from India, Bangladesh and Nepal into domestic and garment sectors, through economic, social and legal empowerment.” This section describes the outcomes of the WIF premigration sessions for women, specifically addressing women's understanding and ability to acquire and apply a greater sense of empowerment and information to find safe and decent work when migrating .

Uptake of Empowerment and Rights Attitudes

The WIF training sessions sought to improve women's perception of the value of their work and their rights, both inside and out of the home. Among the 94 women in Nepal that attended the training, most appreciated messages about their rights, but only 2% indicated that the most important knowledge they gained was about the “rights of migrant workers” (of 20 items) ( 39 ). Low interest in worker rights may have been due, in part, to the fact that most women did not yet know the destination to which they would be migrating—or if they would be migrating at all. Actually, one in two Nepali women planning to migrate in the next 3 months knew nothing about contract details, including salary, living situation, hours, time off, contract length, or penalty for leaving early.

Interviews with women who had previously migrated indicated that migration itself conferred a sense of empowerment. Many Nepali women described feeling empowered via earning their own income, deciding how to spend their money, and their wider knowledge of the world from going abroad. Conversely, findings also suggest that the association of women's migration with promiscuity was stigmatizing for some returnee women who described being gossiped about when they returned ( 40 ). Moreover, in settings such as Nepal, where women's labor migration is a relatively recent phenomena, women who challenge traditional gender roles are frequently stigmatized, and these concerns were not addressed by the WIF intervention.

The erroneous assumptions hindered outcomes on empowerment. In India, women's attitudes toward women's work remained relatively fixed even after the training. For example, when asked about the statement, “Woman's work is not as important as men's work,” before the training, 47.3% agreed, which only changed to 44.9% afterwards. Attitudes toward domestic work also remained broadly negative, with 43.6% of participants agreeing that “Sita should feel ashamed to do paid domestic work in someone else's home,” before the training compared with 46.7% after. Despite these findings, small positive changes were observed for respect and rights. For example, before the training, 47.3% agreed that “Paid domestic workers have the same rights as all workers,” which increased to 59.9% after. After the training, a majority reported they learned about women's rights (85.6%) and workers' rights (84.9%), but these changes were not reflected in their reported attitudes about these concepts ( 30 ).

Uptake of Migration-Related Learning

Outcomes on migration-related learning were also relatively low. In India, women's pre- and post-knowledge of migration risks and opportunities was assessed using single questions connected to a migration-learning construct, such as, “What would you say are the main risks in moving away from home to take up work somewhere else?” Before the training, participants could cite an average of 1.2 risks (of 13) compared to 2.1 risks after the training. Similarly, low learning scores were observed for virtually all topics included in the training, indicating very low to zero retention of training messages ( 30 ).

In qualitative interviews in Bangladesh, women's perceptions of risk following the training did not reflect WIF messages. For example, advice from the WIF training to migrate without a dalal (informal labor intermediary) was strongly rejected ( 32 ). Women believed it was necessary to use a dalal to migrate. While women recognized numerous risks related to migration, many believed that outcomes were due to chance, and some believed that spiritual practices would protect them. Participating in WIF training was interpreted by some women as a kind of “certificate,” which lent them a special advantage that would reduce their risks during migration ( 32 ). However, at the same time, women did not often follow the advice they received in the training (e.g., travel via formal routes and agencies). In qualitative interviews in Nepal, one woman reported that she learned she should obtain necessary migration documents and travel via safe routes. Nevertheless, she traveled through an irregular channel following the advice of her broker and discussions with her husband. These types of decisions suggest that WIF messages may be constrained by individual and contextual realities, spiritual or superstitious beliefs, and structural forces.

Reduction in the Incidence of Human Trafficking

Findings from Nepal indicate the premise that women's empowerment and awareness prevents human trafficking is misguided in that context. Instead, our results indicate that the most important risk associated with forced labor is their country of destination, which is determined by the labor recruiter. Women's individual characteristics, awareness, and participation in trainings did not affect their likelihood of unfree recruitment, work and life under duress, or impossibility of leaving their employer (the three dimensions of forced labor, as defined by the ILO) ( 20 ). Data from Bangladesh suggest that this might also have been the case in that context, where qualitative accounts of posttraining migration show the difficulties women had in implementing WIF's empowerment strategies, as described above.

This section analyses WIF's outcomes in the context of the underpinning theory and assumptions. The contextual conditions needed for the intervention mechanisms to be activated ( 41 ) were not theorized previous to WIF's implementation. The results presented in this section describe how these contextual conditions interacted with WIF's theory.

Formal vs. Informal Recruitment Agents in Migration

A core assumption in the WIF theory of change was that migrant women should and could use formally registered recruitment agents (vs. informal brokers). Therefore, a central WIF program message discouraged the use of informal brokers in favor of registered agents and included guidance about how women could secure the required travel documents, negotiate formal work contracts, and travel via legal migration channels. Our findings indicate that, in reality, many, if not most, of the women planning international migration have to engage with informal agents at some point in their journey ( 42 ), especially women who came from rural areas where there are few or no registered agents. Rural women in Bangladesh had greater trust in local recruiters because they had the impression that recruiters would be accountable in some way if something went wrong—even if plans would eventually involve registered agencies ( 43 ). In India, women migrated almost exclusively within India. Only 13.9% of migrant women relied on a broker. The vast majority of women's migration was facilitated by their friends or acquaintances without participation of a labor contractor (72.2%). Among those who used brokers, deception was commonly reported: “I had no idea to find out my whereabouts. The person (broker) was maintaining tight secrecy for which we were in doubt. We started querying to the broker regarding our work settlement. I was not in a favor of working in anybody's house. The broker had told us to wait till the next morning. But, he had cheated us.”

The Influence of Rights and Empowerment Messages Amidst Local Gender Norms and Socioeconomic Power Dynamics

A further assumption in the WIF theory of change was that empowerment training could lead women to exert their rights as women and as workers. However, one influential barrier hindering this behavior change may have been women's very low confidence in their own ability to assert their power in their communities or within their families—particularly in the face of the pervasive gender inequalities, especially the cultural norms related to female migration. In India, over half of the returnee female migrants (53.5% of n = 112) reported they had limited input in the decision concerning their migration. In Bangladesh, women explained that they would have great difficulty expressing the empowerment messages they heard in the training. Exercising their rights became even more problematic when women needed to negotiate with labor brokers and nearly impossible with employers once they arrived in the destination, not least because work conditions are rarely negotiable and rights related to foreign workers are not enforced even if they exist on paper, particularly for domestic workers ( 44 ). In other words, knowing about their rights could not protect women if the context did not provide space to assert those rights. It is not a coincidence that forced labor among Nepali female returnees was higher in countries with the kafala system at the time of the study, which gave employers full state-sanctioned rights over migrant workers, including their visas ( 45 ).

In addition, while the WIF intervention tried to normalize migration for the WIF participants, female migration in South Asia is still highly stigmatized because of its association with sex work or promiscuity ( 40 ). Nearly half of female returnees in India (48.6% of n = 112) reported suffering stigma when they returned home. In this sense, in women's own community, WIF's messages were hampered by the social reality of women's lives, where entrenched social norms and accepted power structures pose substantial barriers along the WIF-anticipated pathways toward empowerment, particularly when empowerment is specifically related to migration.

A further underlying, albeit more distal, assumption was that if women could be equipped with correct knowledge about migration and assert their knowledge with recruiters (e.g., contracts, rights, migration regulations), this could influence recruiters to change their behavior. That is, if women knew how to negotiate their contracts and understood the laws and their rights and necessary documentation, recruiters would have to treat them differently, i.e., could not exploit them. Yet to date, there is little to no evidence from our study or elsewhere indicating that intermediaries alter their practices—exploitative or not—if women are more knowledgeable about the migration processes. Conversely, our study showed that having contracts did not protect Nepali migrant women from forced labor at destination ( 20 ).

Risk Awareness Among Target Populations vs. Risk Tolerance

Another underlying WIF assumption was that being aware of the risks of forced labor can make one safer from exploitation—an assumption that has underpinned many trafficking prevention activities around the world ( 6 ). Yet, findings from our research and other studies indicate that most prospective migrants are actually aware of migration-related risks. Nevertheless, individuals frequently maintain fervent hopes that migration will work out for them personally , or are willing to take their chances, even if they believe there are risks for other people ( 10 , 46 ). Among SWIFT participants in Nepal, just over two-thirds (67.8%) of returnee migrant women reported having been aware that migrants may be deceived about their working terms and conditions prior to migrating. Most reported (91.2%) having suffered forced labor. Additionally, data from the Nepal survey with returnees and prospective migrants suggest that past experiences of forced labor are also not related to whether or not a respondent decides to return to the same destination or sector in which they were previously exploited. There does not even seem to be a “dose response effect,” as participation in trainings did not reduce the likelihood of experiencing forced labor—even among those women who had a work contract, which was suggested to be protective according to the WIF training ( 20 ).

Language Capability and Exploitation

Local language skills can influence women's negotiating power, but this was not a strong component in the trainings. For example, even for interstate migration in India, language barriers can affect their engagement at destination. As one study participant in India explained: “In Kerala, I could not understand their language. They too do not understand our language, I suppose. I felt like, I was mum almost all the time. There was only work, all the time. We could not take rest for a while during the duty hours. This is so exhausting. I feel very tired there. On the top of this, there is hardly any chance of social interaction. Sometimes, I feel like damning those people there” ( 29 ).

Among Nepali returnees who had migrated to Arabic-speaking countries, almost three in four (73.6%) reported that they could speak some Arabic. The assumption that they would be able to negotiate their contracts or working conditions in Arabic seems, however, farfetched. Results from regression analysis suggest that the prevalence of forced labor among returnees was not associated with speaking the language [crude odds ratio (OR), 0.75; 95% CI, 0.74: 4.0; AOR, 1.1; 95% CI, 0.41: 2.8]. Actually, the prevalence of forced labor was slightly higher among women who could speak the language (95.7%; 95% CI, 93.0: 97.6) vs. women who did not speak the language (92.8%; 95% CI, 86.8: 96.7).

Learning Uptake Among Participants

An important assumption in the WIF design was that the invited participants would be interested in, engage with, and take up the learning offered in the WIF curriculum. Yet, findings cast doubt on the learning uptake by participants. Although the vast majority of WIF training participants in Odisha reported previous training on worker's rights or labor migration, WIF participants' initial knowledge scores about migration risks, practices, rights, and collective bargaining were very limited, and their scores remained low even after the 2-day training, as noted above ( 30 ). Low learning levels might be explained by low prevalence of female migration (7% of households) in the site that ILO selected for the training and evaluation, which likely hindered participant interest and uptake of migration-related information. This finding was similar to the prevalence of female migration in the formative research site in Dolakha, Nepal (2%). As a result of the formative research, this site was dropped from the evaluation. Another possible reason for low learning uptake In India might have been the substantial training focus on domestic work when the larger portion of female migrants worked in construction (25.2%) vs. paid domestic work (19.1%). Moreover, women in India may not have been interested in the exploitation and trafficking messages offered in the training because of the generally low levels of reported forced labor (4%), especially when compared with Nepal (91.2%). At the same time, however, Indian women who had migrated within India working in non-domestic work sectors reported fairly poor work conditions, with 53% indicating that they worked in a dusty, smoky, fume-filled space without adequate ventilation; 50% did tasks that could hurt them or cause illness or sickness; and 37% were in uncomfortable or painful positions for long periods ( 47 ). Yet, occupational risks and protections were not part of the WIF training curriculum. Furthermore, in qualitative interviews, migrants in India reported non-payment of wages, reduced wages, or delayed payments, as well as restrictions in freedom, violence, and abuse by employers. One interviewee reported her experience: “In Kerala, the sister's (female employer) husband misbehaved with me. So at that time I was frightened. And I wanted to go home. About this matter I couldn't speak to anyone, because language was a big problem. Toward the end of my 5 years stay, I deliberately became more uncooperative…. The unpleasant experience of sexual assault by that old man in Kerala has indeed left a lifetime scar on me. I used to spread a mat under the bed of a room and sleep there with fear like a dog.” Despite regular evidence from this study and others, abuse, especially sexual abuse, was not integrated into the curriculum.

Intervention-focused evaluation on human trafficking, forced labor, extreme exploitation—or “modern slavery” —is a relatively nascent field of study. As human trafficking is an emerging area for interventions, it is not surprising that findings on trafficking prevention currently suggest more weaknesses than strengths in the WIF intervention theory, assumptions, mechanisms, and outcomes. Moving forward toward more effective and cost-effective programming, results from this evaluation offer crucial insights about future antitrafficking prevention programming that relies on premigration training. Our findings add to the growing body of evidence on the ineffectiveness of premigration knowledge building as an antitrafficking strategy ( 10 , 15 ). Furthermore, this evaluation highlights the importance of understanding the full context in which interventions are intended to have an effect, not solely the site where the intervention is delivered. This study also has implications for future methodological approaches to intervention development and evaluation.

First and foremost, when addressing modern slavery, and even when considering “everyday exploitation,” there is no denying that the dynamics in each context play the most significant role. The asymmetric power relationship between workers and others involved in their recruitment and employment will continue to hinder mechanisms such as premigration training from achieving the outcome of making women safer because it relies on women to be able to apply these rights and information. In other words, while the WIF intervention's messages about women's rights as women and their rights as workers are undeniably inherently beneficial, it nonetheless remained unreasonable for women to believe in these rights and even more difficult for them to assert them in settings in which these rights are rarely, if ever, respected ( 48 ). Exerting these rights is especially difficult in countries where employment contracts bind employees to employers through migration sponsorship programs, such as the Kafala system in the Gulf countries. Evidence from our research and many other studies show that migrants face increased risks of exploitation, violence, and reduced access to justice under this system ( 20 , 48 – 50 ).

This context of often-extreme power imbalances suggests that it may be problematic to invest in premigration interventions alone, as these single location initiatives do not take sufficient account of the full migration trajectory, especially the later stages toward the destination and workplace, where the power asymmetry widens and most of the abuses occur. Because women themselves are not able to confront the entrenched and unequal power dynamics with recruiters or employers, interventions must be designed to address multiple points in a woman's migration trajectory. Figure 2 highlights how power asymmetries grow over the course of migration, which will limit the potential effectiveness of interventions that solely aim to arm women with knowledge before they migrate without addressing the increasing power differentials women encounter throughout their migration journey. The WIF community-based intervention's theoretical assumption, that if women were equipped with the migration-related knowledge, awareness of their rights and a budding sense of empowerment, they could manage the forthcoming negotiations, was not credible in the face of the severe inequalities related to gender, socioeconomic status, and migrant discrimination, particularly the state-sanctioned inequalities in destination locations. While there have been international legislative achievements that should influence local laws, such as the adoption of the International Labor Organization's Domestic Workers Convention 189 ( 51 ); to date, there have been only 29 ratifications, few of which include common destination locations for migrant domestic workers and no Gulf states. Moreover, while these tools lay the essential scaffolding for future improvements, there is little evidence of their earnest implementation and even less evidence that women workers experience any enforcement or benefit from regulatory provisions. These intervention challenges were also noted in the 2020 report by the United Kingdom's Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI), “It also makes little sense to address international trafficking and forced migration in source countries without also taking necessary action in destination countries and along migration pathways” ( 52 ). Unfortunately, the original Work in Freedom programmatic theory of change for the community-based activities relied on assumptions about the potential for individual empowerment and awareness raising to translate into reduction in vulnerability when migrating. However, WIF did engage local implementing partners that worked closely with migrant populations or had expertise with gender issues.

Figure 2 . Migration intervention trajectory and increasing power asymmetries.

While WIF recruited a broad range of participants, many anti-trafficking programmes target participants based on poverty, sex and education status as supposed “risk factors”, which are non-modifiable characteristics that generally fall beyond the scope of anti-trafficking programming. Findings from our work suggest that identifying at-risk groups based on these individual indicators is likely to be misleading at best and wasteful at worst. Moreover, this study indicates that individual situations have to be carefully considered in the gendered and socioeconomic context to avoid assumptions about the promise of empowerment against exploitation. That is, programs to prevent labor exploitation among international migrants need to address more than just the predeparture characteristics of prospective migrant women but must consider interventions that shift the power imbalances for migrant workers in relation to larger structural determinants, particularly recruitment processes and the employment context at the end of the migration trajectory. Targeting modifiable determinants of a migrant's experiences, for example, recruiter behaviors, which fall further up the structural pathway, may yield better results (see Figure 2 ).

Furthermore, the political context of interventions matters. Definitions of trafficking and forced labor are highly contentious, and governments of both origin and destination locations often dispute the use of these constructs and measurements to describe the situation of their citizens or their foreign workers. During the course of our evaluation, there was some resistance to the subject of forced labor and human trafficking. Moreover, the release of prevalence measurements of trafficking and forced labor was seen as particularly sensitive to governments and the international organizations operating in these sites. In particular, international agencies were concerned about the potential negative implications of the numbers of migrants being exploited and feared that the findings would cause government to (re)instate the female labor migration bans ( 53 ).

From a realist evaluation perspective ( 21 ), WIF lacked some clear initial theorizing about what were potentially successful pathways to influence change in deeply constrained migration trajectories. Moreover, having the programmatic ceiling of accountability fixed on women's empowerment and awareness meant that the actual effectiveness of the program was left mostly unchecked throughout implementation, with only the emerging findings from SWIFT, especially the qualitative component in Bangladesh, able to reveal some of the unintended and often harmful outcomes. Comprehensive monitoring systems that inform a program's adaptation would have been necessary to ensure prevention of harm via early detection of unintended outcomes.

Limitations

Methods for data collection and analysis were not the same across sites. In each setting, we prioritized robust methodological approaches that were complementary and could address our main evaluation question, i.e., to what extent the rationale and assumptions of WIF were supported by context-specific evidence, and what were main enablers and barriers to implementation. We relied on the knowledge and experience of our local partners to ensure that we implemented feasible, acceptable, and ethical methodological approaches for research in each site. Triangulation across sites showed many similarities in findings, even considering the different methods used for data collection. This consistency in findings provided strong indications of the strength of the evidence produced by SWIFT on WIF's theory and implementation.

Of the four cross-sectional surveys we conducted, two relied on representative population samples. Unfortunately, both were conducted in WIF intervention sites with very low prevalence of female migration (Dolakha in Nepal, and Odisha in India). These sites were initially selected by the ILO to be the focus of the SWIFT evaluation, but Dolakha was ultimately removed for Nepal. The surveys with prospective and returnee migrants in three other Nepal districts relied on WIF's strategy for identification of their target population. This strategy aimed to avoid underreporting of migration experiences and aspiration by relying on identification of migrant women by peer educators hired by the ILO's local partners that operated in the specific districts. This population cannot, therefore, be considered representative of the overall population of female migrants living in the evaluation sites. We can, however, safely assume that they represent WIF's target population, since these were the women who were invited to participate in WIF's activities.

Loss to follow-up was very high in longitudinal data collection in India and Nepal, especially after women left home. We put in place several strategies to reduce attrition, but we were not able to conduct many interviews after women reached their destination. Findings on outcomes, in particular (especially quantitative data), were limited by the ethical and logistical challenges to follow women throughout their migration journeys, especially women in exploitative, abusive, or unfree work conditions. In Nepal, follow-up was particularly challenging, partly due to the 2015 earthquake that occurred at the end of the fieldwork. In the aftermath of the earthquake, women's contact details and migration plans may have changed, which may explain in part why there was such a large number lost to follow-up. Details of limitations in each of the individual studies are available elsewhere ( 20 , 28 , 30 , 34 , 35 ).

We acknowledge that the WIF intervention involved more than the community-level activities and also worked with governments, trade unions, employers, and others. These other components may have had positive effects, but our remit with SWIFT was to evaluate only the community-level activities.

This theory-based evaluation strongly indicates that the community-based component of the WIF intervention was not sufficiently researched or well-designed to prevent the exploitation of migrant women. This evaluation also contributes further evidence against premigration knowledge-building and awareness-raising because they are extremely unlikely to sufficiently equip migrants to overcome the power inequalities that they will encounter throughout the migration journey, especially once they are in their employment situation. While these findings are disappointing, they are nonetheless crucial for the field of human trafficking prevention precisely because the results demonstrated that the intervention did not work. There is growing recognition of the necessity to publish null findings of rigorously produced evidence for interventions that do not do what was intended and offer explanations for apparent failure. Scientists reporting weak or null findings are arguably among the most valuable soothsayers in policy or programming realms because of their ability to explain what should be done differently or more effectively in the future, to avoid the waste of precious funds ( 54 ). While our research did not indicate that the intervention was effective in reducing women's risk of exploitation, the results most certainly emphasized that women who decide to migrate for work need and deserve better migration policy protections and effective interventions, so they can be safe when they strive for better livelihoods for themselves and their family.

Data Availability Statement

The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/supplementary material, further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author/s.

Ethics Statement

The studies involving human participants were reviewed and approved by Ethics approvals were obtained from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) (reference numbers 8840, 7021, and 8895), the Centre for Women's Development Studies, Indian Council of Social Science Research for India, the Nepal Health Research Council (reference numbers 1040 and 1441) and the South Asian Network on Economic Modeling, an autonomous research institute in Bangladesh. The patients/participants provided their written informed consent to participate in this study.

Author Contributions

CZ and LK: conceptualization, funding acquisition, supervision, and writing—original draft. LK, JM, and NP: data curation and formal analysis. CZ, LK, JM, and NP: investigation, methodology, and writing—review & editing. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.

This evaluation was funded by the Foreign & Commonwealth Development Office (previously known as the Department for International Development), Grant No. GB-1-203857-102, awarded to LK and CZ at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. The funders did not play a role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Funding URL: https://devtracker.fcdo.gov.uk/projects/GB-1-203857 .

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the many female and male participants who agreed to participate in the study. We thank Samantha Watson for her role in designing and implementing the study, Christine McLanachan for overall study leadership and coordination, and partners at AAINA, SEWA , and the Centre for Women's Development Studies in India, the DRISHTI Research Centre in Bangladesh, and Centre for the Study of Labour and Mobility at Social Sciences Baha in Nepal. We thank Tanya Abramsky at LSHTM for her role in analyses for Nepal. We are grateful to the FCDO colleagues for their consistent support throughout the evaluation.

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Keywords: human trafficking, modern slavery, migrant women, realist evaluation, South Asia

Citation: Zimmerman C, Mak J, Pocock NS and Kiss L (2021) Human Trafficking: Results of a 5-Year Theory-Based Evaluation of Interventions to Prevent Trafficking of Women From South Asia. Front. Public Health 9:645059. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2021.645059

Received: 22 December 2020; Accepted: 23 March 2021; Published: 17 May 2021.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2021 Zimmerman, Mak, Pocock and Kiss. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Cathy Zimmerman, cathy.zimmerman@lshtm.ac.uk ; Nicola S. Pocock, nicola.pocock@lshtm.ac.uk

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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A STUDY OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN INDIA: AN OVERVIEW

The concept of human trafficking refers to the criminal practice of exploiting human beings by treating them like commodities for profit. Even after being trafficked victims are subjected to long term exploitation. Human trafficking particularly trafficking in women and children has developed as an important social subject matter of concern in many parts of the world. UN protocol definition trafficking of human beings includes different actions such as to recruit, transport, transfer, harbor or receive by means of threat or force or other forms of coercion, within the purpose of exploitations. Children particularly females, teenagers, orphans and women are the most prominent victims of human trafficking in the world. The subject of human Trafficking is defined as a trade in something that should not be traded on for various social, economic or political reasons. Trafficking both for commercial sexual exploitation and for non sex based exploitation is a transnational and complex challenge as it is an organized criminal activity, an extreme form of human rights violation and an issue of economic empowerment and social justice.

Related Papers

shubham sharma

Human Trafficking has now been one of the prime concerns in the 21st century. The trafficking involves much extent involuntariness in mobiling the people from known place to unknown place. Trafficking of women and children has become part of transnational organized crime and has been referred to as the “dark side of globalization” (Ministerial Conference Communiqué 1999, Nepal). Due to illicit nature of people trafficking, the number of women and children trafficked for commercial sex work, begging or forced labor is difficult to quantify in nature. However the national and international sources agree that the global trade has increased substantially over a decade. Recent analysis made by the United States suggests that global trafficking of women and children is an operation worth $5-7 billion annually. Estimate indicates that more than 2 million women of Indian, Bangladeshi and Nepalese origin are engaged in the commercial sex trade in India. Of these, at least 500,000 are under the age of 18 years. India has been placed on the Tier – 2 watch list of the human trafficking for the 5th consecutive year by the UN as India has failed to deal with such problem. According to its report, India is a destination, source, and transit country for men, women and children trafficked. Poverty, ethnic conflicts, child marriage, unemployment, lure of job in big cities, natural calamities, fake marriage, increasing urbanisation; lack of educational facilities; large family size, migration of labourers from rural areas to urban areas; open border, sex tourism, are some major reasons behind trafficking. This paper analysis certain setbacks in the laws and amendments regarding the prevention of immortal trafficking in India and their implementations, it also discusses issues related to why trafficking occurs? And issues regarding certain challenges and complexities faced by the government of India in dealing with such immoral trafficking, and thus to find out a reasonable solution to this problem. Moreover it gives a case study of north-eastern states, focuses on the problems regarding the trafficking of women and children from this north-eastern states and to find out the reasons behind it and also to find out a desirable solution to the problem. Keywords –Trafficking, Involuntariness, Transnational, Globalization, Urbanisation, Migration

Ankit Sourav Sahoo

Trafficking in children and women has become one of the most vicious abuses of human rights. But it is very hard to fathom the magnitude of the concept as trafficking which is closely related to child labour, bonded labour, child marriage, kidnapping and abduction and prostitution even though these things can exist also independent of trafficking. The results of any immoral and unethical practice can never be positive and fruitful to the national interest. The evil of trafficking in women and children has become a parasite which we are bearing in our body and it has become both a human rights and developmental issue and thus this practice has long listed consequences. According to a new report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the vast majority of all human trafficking victims are women and girls and one third are children. Men and boys, however, are trafficked into exploitative labour, including work in the mining sector, as porters, soldiers, and slaves. Worldwide, 28 per cent of trafficking victims are children, but children account for 62 per cent in Sub-Saharan Africa and 64 per cent in Central America and the Caribbean. This paper has tried to analyse the nature, causes, modes and volume of women and child trafficking in India. The paper points out the need to evolve a multidimensional approach and focuses attention on structural factors of trafficking and to recommend effective suggestions to combat the social evil.

Rubina Nusrat

sidhi jalan

SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH PAPER 1 | Page Trafficking in persons is a serious crime and a grave violation of human rights. Every year, thousands of men, women and children fall into the hands of traffickers, in their own countries and abroad. Almost every country in the world is affected by trafficking, whether as a country of origin, transit or destination for victims. The present study aims at finding the existence of this practice in today's time, its consequences on the society and the existing laws against this practice. A detailed research methodology has been used to find the extent to which this problem exists in the society and how it can be eradicated.

Transstellar Journals

TJPRC Publication

The footprints of human trafficking of slavery systems can be traced out easily from the history during early stages of civilization. It can be seen in the roots of origin of the private property in the form of the workshop of the patriarchal master in the beginning and formation of family. One can consider human trafficking as the present type of slavery system. The main victims of human trafficking may relate either by force, cheat, or any other form of misleading, mainly for the sake of labor or sexual exploitation. The major part of sufferers may be children, teenagers including men and women. This is growing as a criminal industry in the contemporary world. It is the largest, after the drug-trade in the present world. The present paper is an effort to address and highlight the past and present forms of human trafficking and its possible future direction. An effort has also been made to analyze the preventive measures and their consequences with reference to the Indian perspective.

International journal of applied research

Vimal Vidushy

This paper addresses the situation of human trafficking in India. It argues that the focus on trafficking either as an issue of illegal migration or prostitution still dominates the discourse of trafficking, which prioritizes state security over human security and does not adequately address the root causes of trafficking and the insecurity of trafficked individuals. The root causes or vulnerability factors of trafficking such as structural inequality, culturally sanctioned practices, poverty or economic insecurity, organ trade, bonded labor, gender violence, which are further exacerbated by corruption, have remained unrecognized in academic and policy areas. This paper argues that emphasis needs to be given to such underlying root causes and modes and also crimes related to human trafficking, that threatens human security of the trafficked persons in India. Accordingly, it provides some preventive measures to address and deal with the problem.

Social Sciences

Abstract: Every day, children are being bought, sold and transported away from their homes. The trafficking of human beings particular children has become a multi-dollar business that appears to be growing. Child trafficking is illegal. It is also extremely harmful, as trafficked children are physically and sexually exploited. The United Nations estimates that 246 million children across the world are involved in exploitative labour and that 1.2 million children are trafficked each year. About one million children are exploited in the multi-billion dollar sex industry. Next to drug and gun trafficking, human trafficking is the third top criminal industry in the world. What used to be reported as a one billion dollar trade annually in early 2000, is now reported to generate a yearly profit of around US$ 10-12 Billion. A US state department report has placed India on its second worst category of human trafficking watch list for the fifth year in a row, for allegedly failing to show evidence of increasing efforts to combat the problem. In the report, India is described as a “source, destination and transit country for men, women and children trafficked for the purpose of forced labour and commercial sexual exploitation. Ignorance, limited resources and poor execution of the protective programmes and policies for children further creates many problems and the problem of trafficking seems to be finding no redress in the near future. It is in this backdrop the present paper attempts to suggest some possible suggestion to check the problem of social menace i.e. child trafficking.

Biswajit Ghosh

International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development

SAUROJIT BARUA

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CBI arrests 4 in human trafficking case linked to Indians sent to Russia

A cbi probe had revealed that dozens of indians were lured under the guise of lucrative jobs and sent to fight in the russia-ukraine war. the probe agency made first arrests in the case..

Listen to Story

• CBI arrests four in human trafficking case
• Victims lured with high-paying jobs, made to fight for Russia
• CBI filed case in March, raids carried out in seven cities

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has made significant strides in dismantling a human trafficking network with the arrest of four individuals allegedly involved in trafficking Indian nationals for combat roles in the Russian Army.

On Tuesday, the CBI apprehended two suspects, identified as Arun and Yesudas Junior, both residents of Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. This arrest follows an earlier operation on April 24, where two additional suspects, Nijil Jobi Bensam and Anthony Michael Elangovan, were detained in connection with the case.

The arrests are part of an ongoing investigation into a major human trafficking network that came to light on March 6, 2024. The network operated nationwide, targeting vulnerable youths with promises of lucrative employment opportunities abroad. Using social media platforms such as YouTube and local contacts, the traffickers enticed Indian nationals with the prospect of high-paying jobs in Russia.

Subsequent enquiries revealed a disturbing pattern wherein trafficked individuals were coerced into combat roles and deployed in the Russia-Ukraine War Zone against their will. This reckless exploitation not only endangered their lives but also resulted in severe injuries for some.

The CBI has filed a case of human trafficking against private Visa Consultancy Firms and agents involved in facilitating the illegal movement of Indian nationals to Russia under false pretences. The network of these agents spans multiple states across India and beyond.

Key figures in the trafficking operation include Nijil Jobi Bensam, who worked in Russia as a translator on a contract basis and played a central role in recruiting Indian nationals into the Russian Army. Anthony Michael Elangovan facilitated his co-accused Faisal Baba, based in Dubai, and others in Russia by processing visas in Chennai and arranging air travel for victims.

Arun and Yesudas Junior were identified as the main recruiters of Indian nationals from Kerala and Tamil Nadu for the Russian Army.