India, Nepal, Bangladesh and other SAARC countries have developed and implemented a number of legislations to prohibit human trafficking and to penalize the traffickers.
INDIA:
The Government of India penalizes trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation through the Immoral Trafficking (Prevention) Act, 1956 with prescribed penalty of seven years to life imprisonment. India also prohibits bonded and forced labour through the Bonded Labour Abolition Act, 1976, the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, and the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) of Children Act, 2000.
Also there is the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 that mandates free and compulsory education to all children aged six to fourteen years. This legislation also mandates that 25 percent of seats in every private school shall be allocated for children from disadvantaged groups and physically challenged children. Moreover, the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 has been amended by the new Act of 2016, named the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Act that received the assent of the President on July 29, 2016.
For the prosecution of offences regarding human trafficking, Indian authorities also use Sections 370 and 370A of the Indian Penal Code, 1860. These two sections have been substituted in the Code by the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013. Apart from these, there are also some other provisions in the Indian Penal Code that prohibits kidnapping and selling of minors for prostitution and sexual exploitation. Penalties under these provisions are a maximum of ten years imprisonment along with fine.
NEPAL:
Not only India, but also Nepal and other countries within the SAARC region have established their own legislation to combat the problem of trafficking. The Constitution of Nepal, 2015 specifically provides the ‘right to equality’ and the ‘right to freedom from exploitation’. The right against exploitation specifically prohibits the trafficking of persons. Nepal also has three domestic laws in place that address girl trafficking and forced child labor, namely the Labour Act, 1992, the Human Trafficking and Transportation (Control) Act, 2007, and the National Human Rights Commission Act, 2012. The Human Trafficking and Transportation (Control) Act of Nepal explicitly criminalizes the selling and buying of human beings and also provides for rehabilitation and integration of the victims of trafficking.
Despite efforts at legislating against trafficking throughout the SAARC region, lack of enforcement remains one of the highest hurdles behind combating trafficking in this region. It is frequently seen that governments and society tend to judge the woman guilty of prostitution and minimize the traffickers’ role in this crime. Also government police officials are often corrupt; and hence traffickers maintain close relations with police and politicians in connection with their trafficking activities. Another fact is that few victims (survivors) rouse charges against the traffickers, which shows that survivors have little trust towards law enforcement mechanisms or such mechanisms are ineffective to bring the survivors to report effectively.
BANGLADESH:
The Government of Bangladesh did not provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat sex trafficking or forced labor during the reporting period. Bangladesh prohibits the trafficking of women and children for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation or involuntary servitude under the Repression of Women and Children Act of 2000 (amended in 2003), and prohibits the selling and buying of a Prostitution of children child under the age of 18 for prostitution in Articles 372 and 373 of its penal code. The most common sentence imposed on convicted sex traffickers is life imprisonment. These penalties are very stringent and commensurate with those prescribed for other serious crimes, such as rape. Article 374 of Penal code of Bangladesh prohibits forced labor, but the prescribed penalties of imprisonment for up to one year or a fine are not sufficiently stringent. The Ministry of Home Affairs’ Anti-Trafficking Monitoring Cell of Bangladesh reportedly collected data on trafficking arrests, prosecutions, and rescues, and coordinated and analyzed local-level information from regional anti-trafficking units.
BHUTAN:
Sections 152 and 153 of the Penal Code of Bhutan provides for illegal selling and buying of human organs and for grading of illegal selling and buying of human organs respectively. Sections 154 and 155 of the said Code provides for trafficking a person and grading of trafficking a person respectively. In Bhutan, grading of any offence means punishment for such offence.
