Indian Activist speaks at United Nations General Assembly on Human Trafficking

New York, June 4: Anti-human trafficking expert and Apne Aap Women Worldwide Founder President, Ms. Ruchira Gupta addressed members of the United Nations General Assembly on 3^rd June, 2008 at a thematic debate 

on human trafficking  calling upon all members of the General Assembly and India in particular to tighten their anti-trafficking laws by imposing stricter punishment on traffickers and criminalizing buyers of prostitution. She said standards have already been set in the UN
Protocol to Prevent Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially
Women and Children, adopted in 2000 which most members of the UN including India had already ratified and it was obligatory for countries, including India to amend their laws to harmonize with the Protocol.

“Demand for trafficked people-from end users to those who make a profit from the trade has become the most immediate cause for the expansion of the trafficking industry. An increase in convictions against traffickers and buyers will serve to make this trade untenable and restore a sense of justice to the survivor,” she said.

The amendment to the 1956 Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act (ITPA), which among other
things, decriminalize women in prostitution, while criminalizing the real and often invisible perpetrators - the buyers of prostitution, pimps and brothel owners has languished in New Delhi for
two years with no end in sight. Much resistance to the amendment comes from Indian Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss who has objected saying punishing the buyers of prostituted sex would cause the sex trade to go underground, which would affect the HIV/ AIDS programme.

The grim reality, however, is that prostituted women and children are trafficked and cannot say no to unwanted sex let alone unprotected sex.

In her recommendations to the General Assembly Ms Gupta said “trafficking for prostitution should not be treated as a health management or AIDS prevention programme. These programmes have ended up creating a vested industry around the manufacture and distribution of condoms without dismantling the process of trafficking or making a dent to the brothel systems which simply serve as a magnet to buyers of prostituted sex and to traffickers. Protection of the trafficked includes preventing prostitution, not simply mitigating its impact”.

Her remarks come at a time when a group of ministers headed by Home Minister Shivraj Patil have approved the amendment and the Ministry for Women and Child is planning to

circulate the amendment bill for Cabinet consideration and are confident that the bill will be introduced in the monsoon session of Parliament.

Ms Gupta added that confronting the demand for human trafficking was one of the most critical ways of breaking the nexus between organized crime and trafficking. “Increased convictions of buyers and those who make a profit from human trafficking is the best form of prevention. Making the risks greater, increasing the costs of operations of traffickers and busting their business models is the most effective way of tackling human trafficking. If there is no demand, there will be no supply,” she said. To do this she said the UN and its members had to to increase convictions and prosecutions of traffickers in their own countries and to work multi-laterally to share intelligence and investigate crimes across borders. The UN had a special role and responsibility in conflict areas where it kept the peace to train its peacekeepers to prevent and trafficking. Prostitution preys on the most vulnerable – women and children who are poor, of color, from “lower” castes, and/or immigrant.

Delegates from the General Assembly raised issues about victim-witness protection programme, the role of the private sector in combating trafficking, more awareness and training among and prevention programmes at the grassroots among vulnerable people.

Ms Gupta was the only NGO representative at the debate. Ms. Gupta started her career as a journalist and has won an Emmy award for her documentary film on human trafficking “The Selling of Innocents”. She then worked with UN agencies in various capacities to develop international standards to combat trafficking and assist countries to develop national action plans against trafficking.  Ms. Gupta has recently been honoured by the House of Lords for her contribution in the anti-slavery movement. 23 delegates from different countries spoke after Ms Gupta and three reiterated her demand to curb that curbing the demand for human trafficking was most urgent. These countries were Nicaragua, Philippines and the USA. Actor, Ms Ashley Judd said: “Everybody had spoken about the problem but Ms Gupta was part of the solution and her remarks should be taken very seriously”.

The other speakers were H.E. Mr. Srgjan Kerim, the President of the United Nations General Assembly, H.E. Ms. Asha-Rose Migiro, the Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations , H.E. Dr. Anwar Gargash, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, United Arab Emirates, Ms. Ashley Judd, Actress and Philanthropist, Ms. Kyung-wha Kang, Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ambassador Mark Lagon: Director of the United States State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, Mr. Roger Plant, Head of Special Programme to Fight Enforced Labour, International Labour Organization, Ms. Marilyn Carlson Nelson, The Carlson Companies, Chairman and CEO, Mr. Tom Ehr, Executive Director of the MTV Foundation Europe, Ms. Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, Deputy Secretary-General of the Council of Europe, H.E. Mr. Fernando

Bustamante, Minister of Government for Internal Issues of the Republic of Ecuador, H.E. Ms. Natalia Petkevich, Deputy Head, Administration of the President of the Republic of Belarus and Mrs. Ndioro Ndiaye, Deputy Director General of International Organization for Migration.

Apne Aap Women Worldwide, an all-India NGO, headquartered at Calcutta has been supporting over 5,000 victims and survivors of trafficking through easily accessible community centres in red light areas and slums all over India by providing legal protection, education and health care for the last 6 years. Currently it is training police officers and public prosecutors in Bihar and Maharashtra to combat human trafficking in persons.

For further information contact

Delhi: Anjali Pathak-24110056

Kolkata: Mahua Sur Ray-22812955/ 033-22834354

or apneaap2003@rediffmail.com or  Ruchira Gupta at ruchiragupta@gmail.com