Human trafficking in Nepal is a growing criminal industry affecting multiple other countries beyond Nepal, primarily across Asia and the Middle East. Nepal is mainly a source country for men, women and children subjected to the forced labor and sex trafficking.US State Department (2011). Trafficking in Persons Report 2011 Country Narratives -- Countries N Through Z. Retrieved March 5, 2012 U.S. State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons placed the country in "Tier 2" in 2017.
Overview of human trafficking Human trafficking is the fastest growing criminal industry in the world, second to drug dealing and tied with arms dealing. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, human trafficking is the acquisition of people by improper means such as deception, force, or fraud, with the goal of exploiting them. All countries are affected as source or destination countries or a combination of both, although developing countries tend to be source countries for developed nations.UNODC (2012). Human Trafficking FAQs. Retrieved March 26, 2012, from http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/faqs.html According to a conservative estimate by the International Labour Organization, around 2.4 million people—overwhelmingly women and girls—are currently in forced labor as a result of trafficking, creating a US$32 billion industry worldwide. Annually, approximately 600,000–800,000 people are trafficked across national borders around the world, 80 percent of whom are women and girls. Around 1.2 million victims of trafficking are minors: around 43% are trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation while 32% are for involuntary servitude, and 25% for a mixture of both. Nepali victims are trafficked within Nepal, the Middle East, and even Europe plus other areas such as Malaysia and forced to become prostitutes, domestic servants, beggars, factory workers, mine workers, circus performers, child soldiers, and others.Subedi, G. (2009). TRAFFICKING IN GIRLS AND WOMEN IN NEPAL FOR COMMERCIAL SEXUAL EXPLOITATION: EMERGING CONCERNS AND GAPS. Pakistan Journal of Women's Studies, 16(1/2), 121–146.
The process of human trafficking can be explained by two models: "hard" and "soft". The distinction between hard and soft trafficking has to do with the coercion or complicity of family members in the entry of a person into forced prostitution. Hard trafficking is conducted through false promises and coercion. It spreads from district to district, and has shifted significantly from rural to urban areas. In soft trafficking, family members can play roles beyond "seller", including transporter and purchaser.
Destinations
Within Nepal
Trafficking victims often are taken to locations within Nepal, often from rural areas to the urban centers. Mainly young girls and women are trafficked for sexual exploitation in places such as cabin/dance restaurants, massage parlors, and other places within the tourism sector. However, these spaces also host many women who entered sex work voluntarily, and those who might have entered voluntarily but were later not allowed to leave and end up in slave-like conditions. Within Nepal, labor trafficking is also common: victims often end up in carpet and garment factories, embroidering sweatshops, brick-kilns, and others.
Cross-border to India
The trafficking of girls from Nepal into India for forced prostitution is perhaps one of the busiest slave trafficking routes anywhere in the world, with an estimated 5,000-10,000 Nepali women and girls trafficked to India each year. An estimated 100,000–200,000 Nepali trafficked persons are in India.Mukherji KK, Muherjee S. (2007): Girls and women in prostitution in India Department of Women and Child Development, New Delhi, India. Victims are also trafficked for labor in circuses, agriculture, and manufacturing sectors. The 1850 kilometers of open, porous border between Nepal and India make trafficking simple and difficult to catch. In addition, there is no immigration control for Nepalese migrating to India or Indians coming into Nepal under the 1950 Peace and Friendship Treaty between India and Nepal. In addition to being a destination, India is also a transit country for Nepalese and Bangladeshi women trafficked to Pakistan, Western Asia, and the Middle East and for women trafficked from the Russian Federation to Thailand.
Nepal's open international border with India provides human traffickers with easy access to transport victims across the border undetected. According to the Office of the National Rapporteur on Trafficking in Women and Children, quoted by Gurung and Kachchhap, "There is no required passport and visa resulting in easy passage. With [fewer] rules and regulations in place, the border becomes an easy pass with falsified documents and paperwork. Consequently, it is easy for traffickers to lure Nepali women and children and transport them across the border into India. This largely unsupervised boundary facilitates human trafficking, with India serving as both a transit and destination country for victims of this inhumane crime.
Cross-border (excluding India) Victims, especially girls and women, are trafficked to Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Russia, Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates and other Gulf states. Experts believe China is also becoming an emerging hub for Nepali victims. Many victims who end up overseas are passed through India first before their final destinations. For non-India foreign destinations, the victims are most commonly subjected to sex trafficking, especially to non-brothels. Also widespread is labor exploitation of victims in unorganized, informal sectors in Gulf states, such as domestic servitude.
Types of trafficking
Sex trafficking Sex trafficking is when someone uses coercion, force, or fraud to cause a commercial sex act with an adult or causes a minor to commit a commercial sex act. A commercial sex act includes prostitution, pornography or sexual performance done in exchange for an item of value, such as money, shelter, food, drugs, or clothes.
Sex trafficking is particularly rampant within Nepal and to India, with as many as 5,000–10,000 women and girls trafficked to India alone each year.Koirala A, Banskota HK, Khadka BR: Cross border interception – A strategy of prevention of trafficking women from Nepal. Int Conf AIDS :15. 2004, Jul 11–16 Those who have been trafficked for sex work are more likely to be older, illiterate, and have fewer family members with earning power. Some reasons for being trafficked for sex work may include poverty and being old enough. Younger female children, on the other hand, tend to also be exploited for non-sex work including domestic and manual labour, and circus work. Girls are sold to brothels at prices ranging from 50,000 to 70,000 Indian rupees. The younger the girl, the higher the price she will be sold for. Once sold, the girls are property of the brothel owner until they can pay back the amount that was paid for them. Girls trafficked for sex work may be provided with a small portion of food and sometimes a small sum of money, however, brothel owners may take up to 90–95% of the girls' earnings. One study reported that girls were forced to serve an average of 14 clients per day, with a minimum of three and a maximum of 40 men.
Forced labor
Forced labor refers to "situations in which persons are coerced to work through the use of violence or intimidation, or by more subtle means such as accumulated debt, retention of identity papers, or threats of denunciation to immigrant authorities." Elements of forced labor include deception, exploitation and abuse, violating the International Labour Organization Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, adopted in 1998. In Nepal, slavery was one of the oldest forms of forced labor. Since forced labor is mostly hidden in the illicit economy, there is a lack of precise quantitative data to form an accurate measure of its extent.
One specific type of forced labor that is widespread in Nepal is bonded labor, also known as debt bondage. Even though Nepal outlawed bonded labor in 2000, it is still an issue throughout the country. Bonded labor is designed to exploit workers, and happens when individuals give themselves into slavery as a means of repayment for a loan. The individual is then tricked or trapped into working for very little or no pay, as they find that repayment of the loan is impossible. Most workers are not allowed to work for anyone else. Violence and threats are sometimes used to coerce workers to stay, and in certain cases, they are kept under strict surveillance. In Nepal, bonded labor is mostly seen in agriculture, but it can also be found in brick kilns, domestic work, embroidery workshops, tea shops, and small restaurants.
Child labor is also particularly rampant in Nepal. The country has an estimated 1.6 million child workers between the ages of five and 17 years old, who often work in exchange for money to give to their parents. Approximately three-quarters of them are younger than 14 years old, and most of them are girls.
Victim characteristics The majority of trafficking victims are women and girls, who are especially vulnerable due to limited economic opportunities, illiteracy or low education, and low socioeconomic and cultural status.Aengst, J. (2001). Girl Trafficking in Nepal. Human Rights Advocacy Clinic. Women and girls are also more vulnerable to trafficking if they are involved in marginalized livelihoods, deserted by their husbands or families, victims of abuse and violence, and those from disadvantaged communities and extremely poor families. Victims come from all areas of Nepal, but most targeted are those in traditionally disadvantaged, marginalized groups such as the Dalit caste (untouchables) and ethnic minorities ("janajati", indigenous peoples). Additional vulnerable groups include those of religious minorities, those with disability, those from mid- and far-western development regions, and those residing in an area vulnerable to climate change and natural disasters. The United Nations (2011) classified the most vulnerable groups in Nepal who require the most immediate support through the following three criteria: 1) human development (poverty, economic resources, knowledge and health); 2) exclusion (economic exclusion, political exclusion and civic/cultural exclusion); and 3) weak individual protection (physical protection and legal protection). However, victimization is spreading to advantaged groups and upper caste women as well. The Nepal Human Development Report (2004) estimates approximately 20% who are trafficked to India and other countries in Asia are under the age of 16.UNDP (2004). Nepal Human Development Report. Retrieved March 5, 2012, from http://www.undp.org.np/publication/html/nhdr2004/index.php