Comparative Study on Child Trafficking in India and United Kingdom

This report presents a comparative study of child trafficking in India and the United Kingdom. It begins with an overview of the problem, highlighting its global significance and the specific issues faced by both countries. The literature review explores the immensity of child trafficking, human rights concerns, and the legal regulations in India and the UK. The report examines the weaknesses and gaps in these regulations, as well as international efforts to combat trafficking. The research methodology, based on an interpretive philosophy, involves data collection from various sources. The discussion section provides a comparative analysis of the two countries, focusing on legal approaches, the nature of the crime, and the effectiveness of implemented policies. The report concludes with recommendations for improving strategies to tackle child trafficking, emphasizing the need for better surveillance, stricter penalties, and more effective support for victims. The report also acknowledges the role of international organizations in addressing this issue. The report also discusses the research approach, philosophy, and scope. The report also offers a comprehensive discussion and comparative study of the issue.

Running head: CHILD TRAFFICKING
Comparative study between India and United Kingdom on Child Trafficking
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Table of Contents
Comparative study on child trafficking in India and United Kingdom.....................................3
1. Overview................................................................................................................................3
2. Literature Review:..................................................................................................................3
2.1. Immensity of child trafficking:........................................................................................6
2.2. Human Rights and child trafficking:...............................................................................7
2.3. Comparative study of legal regulation in India and UK:................................................8
(i) Child trafficking in India:.................................................................................................8
(ii) Child trafficking in England:............................................................................................9
2.5. Weakness and gaps in the trafficking regulations:........................................................10
2.6. International efforts on child trafficking:......................................................................11
2.7. Effective strategies:.......................................................................................................12
3. Research methodology:........................................................................................................12
3.1 Introduction....................................................................................................................12
3.2. Research philosophy:.....................................................................................................12
3.3. Scope of the research:....................................................................................................13
3.4 Research approach..........................................................................................................13
3.5 Research process............................................................................................................13
4. Discussion............................................................................................................................14
5. Comparative study:..............................................................................................................18
Conclusion:..............................................................................................................................19

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Recommendation......................................................................................................................20
Reference:................................................................................................................................22

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Comparative study on child trafficking in India and United Kingdom
1. Overview
Child trafficking is a part of human trafficking and considered as one of the
most heinous crimes in the modern world. The term denotes the process of transportation,
recruitment and harbouring of children for certain illicit purposes1. The statistic report of
child trafficking submitted by the International Labour Organisation has revealed the
importance of the problem and impacts of it on the socio-economic condition of a country. It
has been mentioned by the institution that the rate of child trafficking is about 1.2 million
every year2.
Aims and Objective of the paper
 To investigate the overview of child trafficking in United Kingdom and India
 To identify the shortcoming of the countries towards dealing with the issue of child
trafficking
 To compare the Legal approach taken by the countries towards dealing with the issue
of child trafficking
 To recommend better ways towards tackling the issue of child trafficking.
2. Literature Review:
Introduction
The problem regarding child labour has affected both the countries of India and
United Kingdom. M. S. Hoque (2010) states that the tragedy regarding the transportation of
1 Rafferty, Yvonne. "Child trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation: A review of promising prevention
policies and programs." American Journal of Orthopsychiatry 83.4 (2013): 559-575.
2 Rafferty, Yvonne. "Child trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation: A review of promising prevention
policies and programs." American Journal of Orthopsychiatry 83.4 (2013): 559-575.

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the women and the children in the brothels is becoming a menace in case of the Asian
countries like Bangladesh and India3. On the other hand, Bales (2004) stated that most of the
victims are economically exploited in UK and forced to involve in the flesh trade4.
According to Pennington (2008), the slaves are not only intending to do the
household work, but are being used as a sex slave; coerce labour or debt bondage also5.
Considering the gravity of the matter, many international institutions have implemented
several policies6.
In case of India and UK, two different objectives and pattern can be observed.
In United Kingdom, child trafficking has been codified in later stage, but the process of
legislature and applications are quite liberal. Most of the trafficked children are served as a
labour in United Kingdom whereas in India, most of the children are used as a sexual object
and transported to the brothels7. Jean D Cunha (1998) had critically examined the scope of
prostitution and sex trafficking in the various parts of the Asian countries. Selina Verma
stated that the main problem regarding trafficking is that the government has failed to take
necessary agenda and make a sustainable development. There are certain legal parlances also
which includes the efforts of the government of different countries and the international
institutions to address the social phenomenon8. It has been stated by Todres (2016), that a
3 Hoque, M. S. (2010). Female Child Trafficking from Bangladesh: A New Form of Slavery. In: Canadian
Social Science Vol .6.1: 45-58.
4 Bales, K. (2004) New Slavery: a Reference Handbook. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO.
5 Penington, Julia and others ed. (2008). The Cross National Market in Human Beings. In: Journal of
Macromarketing 29.2: 119-134.
6 Harvey, Jackie H., Rob A. Hornsby, and Zeibeda Sattar. "Disjointed service: an English case study of multi-
agency provision in tackling child trafficking." British journal of criminology 55.3 (2015): 494-513.
7 Cho, Seo‐Young, Axel Dreher, and Eric Neumayer. "Determinants of Anti‐Trafficking Policies: Evidence
from a New Index." The Scandinavian Journal of Economics 116.2 (2014): 429-454.
8 Harvey, Jackie H., Rob A. Hornsby, and Zeibeda Sattar. "Disjointed service: an English case study of multi-
agency provision in tackling child trafficking." British journal of criminology 55.3 (2015): 494-513.

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strong legal framework has to be put in place regarding child trafficking in order to ensure
eradication of such evil from the society9.
2.1. Immensity of child trafficking:
The modus operandi towards the issue of child trafficking is depending on each
country’s point of view and feasibility10. In India the extent of child trafficking is much more
as compared to that of England. Wadhwa had explained the activities in Nepal-India border
and the transportation of Nepalese girls in various brothels of India. It has been observed that
the transported children are from poor families and entrapped by the traffickers11.
However, in India, most of the child victims are being used for sexual purpose
and tendency regarding the prostitution service has been observed12. Kevin White (2017) has
noticed a similar scenario regarding the process of child trafficking in India and the South
Asian countries13.
Source: Crime in India, National Crime Records Bureau, Ministry of Home Affairs.
9 Todres, Jonathan. "Can Mandatory Reporting Laws Help Child Survivors of Human Trafficking?." (2016).
10 Khan, Asif. "Child trafficking in India: A staid predicament." International Journal of Advanced Research in
Management and Social Sciences 4.5 (2015): 185-201.
11 Sarkar, Siddhartha. "Rethinking human trafficking in India: Nature, extent and identification of
survivors." The Round Table 103.5 (2014): 483-495.
12 Malik, Amit. "Caste Oppression, Gender Discrimination, Poverty Linkage to Human Trafficking in
India." Asian Resonance 3.3 (2014): 265-70.
13 O’Brien, Jennifer E., Kevin White, and Cynthia Fraga Rizo. "Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking Among Child
Welfare–Involved Youth: An Exploratory Study of Correlates." Child maltreatment (2017):
1077559517709995.

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In United Kingdom, the children are trafficked generally for labour purpose.
An initiative has been taken by the Joint Committee on Human Rights of UK to draw a
framework regarding the prevention and detection of the traffickers and to understand the
scope and source of child trafficking. Child trafficking has become an issue in UK as per the
statement of Brayley14. Hamad Alaleeli has pointed out that UK has made significant efforts
to curb the social phenomenon. Anna Gupta stated that children are transported to UK
against their will and they are used as a cheap source of labour in various fields.
2.2. Human Rights and child trafficking:
The negative influence of child trafficking should be analysed from the
comparative perspective and critical analysis is required in this case15. DWCD and UNICEF
have pointed out the risk factors to define the source and effect of child trafficking. Deborah
Fry had categorised the risk factors as lack of personal safety, emotional distress,
homelessness, poverty, family dispute, mental illness, sexual abuse and lack of social
support16.
However, Margaret Malloch17 had explained the risk factors from the criminal
perspective and evaluated the statutory responses to abolish the risk factors. Sanghera (1999)
had concentrated on the weak points of the child trafficking system and made a research on
the liability and veracity of the risk factors18.
14 Brayley, Helen, and Ella Cockbain. "British children can be trafficked too: Towards an inclusive definition of
internal child sex trafficking." Child abuse review 23.3 (2014): 171-184.
15 Choi-Fitzpatrick, Austin. "The good, the bad, the ugly: Human rights violators in comparative
perspective." Journal of Human Trafficking 2.1 (2016): 1-14.
16 Muraya, Dorothy Neriah, and Deborah Fry. "Aftercare services for child victims of sex trafficking: A
systematic review of policy and practice." Trauma, Violence, & Abuse 17.2 (2016): 204-220.
17 Malloch, Margaret. Human Trafficking. Edinburgh University Press, 2016.
18 Kempadoo, Kamala, Jyoti Sanghera, and Bandana Pattanaik. Trafficking and prostitution reconsidered: New
perspectives on migration, sex work, and human rights. Routledge, 2015.

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2.3. Comparative study of legal regulation in India and UK:
In relation with these objective, it can be observed that both the countries have
adopted certain policies over child trafficking issues as the nature of the crime in these
countries are growing in nature. However, certain differences can be observed in case of each
country.
(i) Child trafficking in India:
Child trafficking in India is become epidemic in nature19. Indian Constitution has
mentioned about the ill motive of child trafficking20. Apart from the Constitution, there are
certain other legislations like Immoral Trafficking Act, Prevention of Child from Sexual
Offence, Child Labour Act and Juvenile Justice Act. There are certain provisions stated
under the Indian Penal Code regarding the immoral selling of minor for the purpose of
prostitution (section 366 (A) and section 372). An amendment has been made on criminal law
in 2013 that inserted two sections (section 370 and section 370A IPC) to curb the menace of
child trafficking. Steen et al. (2015) was of the view that increasing incidences of child
trafficking in the brothels impedes HIV control21. However, the penalty provisions stated in
these Acts are easier in nature and the offender get easy release from jail. Additionally, major
portion of those Acts are dealing with prostitution and not amend provisions for other
consequences of child trafficking such as servitude, forced labour etc.
19 Cannon, Abby C., et al. "Trafficking and health: a systematic review of research methods." Trauma, Violence,
& Abuse(2016): 1524838016650187.
20 Swendeman, Dallas, et al. "“Whatever I have, I have made by coming into this profession”: The intersection
of resources, agency, and achievements in pathways to sex work in Kolkata, India." Archives of sexual
behavior 44.4 (2015): 1011-1023.
21 Steen, Richard, et al. "Trafficking, sex work, and HIV: efforts to resolve conflicts." The Lancet 385.9963
(2015): 94-96.

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Source: TIP Report 2015
(ii) Child trafficking in England:
In England, codified laws applied are liberal in nature and the government has taken
certain effective steps to curb this social ill22. The Sexual Offences Act 2003 was enacted to
deal with all kinds of trafficking. In addition to this, there are certain other legislations named
Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2003 and Asylum and Immigration Act 2004. The
government of United Kingdom has also organised a team to rescue the children called
Pentameter II and the process of rescue is known as National Referral Mechanism23. The UK
government has taken a multidimensional attitude to establishing the rights of the child and
make amendment to strengthen the Modern Slavery Act 201524. The provisions of this Act
not only deal with prostitution, but the other necessary problems also and strengthen the
provision of penalties for the offenders.
2.5. Weakness and gaps in the trafficking regulations:
The main theme of this objective is to point out the loopholes and gaps present within
the trafficking regulation of both the countries25.
India’s aspect:
22 Steen, Richard, et al. "Trafficking, sex work, and HIV: efforts to resolve conflicts." The Lancet 385.9963
(2015): 94-96.
23 Greene, Alan. "The UK Government’s Proposed ‘Presumption to Derogate’from the ECHR: Submission to
the Joint Committee on Human Rights." (2017).
24 Invernizzi, Antonella. The human rights of children: From visions to implementation. Routledge, 2016.
25 Cyrus, Norbert, and Dita Vogel. "Demand Arguments in Debates on Trafficking in Human Beings: Using an
historical and economic approach to achieve conceptual clarification." DEMAND-AT Working Paper 1 (2015).

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It has been observed that there is much legislation implemented in India on
child trafficking. However, from the National Crime Reports, it can be seen that the rate of
trafficking has not been reduced rather it has been increased and the rate of kidnapping and
abduction have been increased26. Unlike England, the implementation process of India is rigid
and legislative process is quite slow. The offenders get easy release from the custody. Poor
educational standard is one of the main reasons. Indian government has failed to take
necessary steps to track the offenders and the border areas.
However, the provisions of certain Acts like Prevention of Child from Sexual
Offence and Child Labour Act and Juvenile Justice Act have succeeded to prohibit the
offence to certain extent and it has been observed from the national crime report 2017 that
many child traffickers have to face serious penalties and imprisonment under Indian Penal
Code.
UK’s aspect:
The government of United Kingdom has taken many effective steps regarding
the child trafficking. However, UK has failed to develop a standard legislation in case to stop
child trafficking. Lack of surveillance in the affected areas and the workplaces has been
observed and the government has failed to take proper steps on that.
2.6. International efforts on child trafficking:
The third objective of this assignment is to consider the views of international
institutions regarding the subject. United Nation has taken certain steps over this matter27.
The minimum age regarding labour processes are determined by the International Labour
Organisations through the Minimum Age Convention 1973. The rate of child trafficking is
26 'National Crime Records Bureau' (Ncrb.nic.in, 2017) <http://ncrb.nic.in/> accessed 24 December 2017.
27 Akee, Randall, et al. "Transnational trafficking, law enforcement, and victim protection: A middleman
trafficker’s perspective." The Journal of Law and Economics 57.2 (2014): 349-386.

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observed in migration cases and the International Labour Organisation has implemented the
revised convention on migrant workers in 194928. U.N. Convention on Rights of the child
1989, International Labour Organisation (Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention) 1999
and U.N. Protocol to prevent, suppress and punish Trafficking in person 2000 have also taken
effective steps regarding the matter.
2.7. Effective strategies:
In relation to the fourth objective, an effective strategy is required to deal with
the topic and eradicate trafficking from the society. The government of both the countries
would need to take proper surveillance in the affected areas and the brothels. More agencies
should have to be appointed with an intention to help the victim and investigate the matters
from its core. Proper provisions are not enough to reduce the rate. The process of punishment
should be well-designed29.
3. Research methodology:
3.1 Introduction
A systematic approach regarding the problem on child trafficking could not be
constituted by the literature review only. It needs to follow certain methodology for making
the topic materialistic and responses regarding the issue at the national and international
level30. The topic includes certain ethical perspectives and focuses on the different views of
the scholars and researchers.
28 Davidson, Julia O’Connell. "Telling tales: Child migration and child trafficking." migration 3 (2013): 4.
29 Cho, Seo‐Young, Axel Dreher, and Eric Neumayer. "Determinants of Anti‐Trafficking Policies: Evidence
from a New Index." The Scandinavian Journal of Economics 116.2 (2014): 429-454.
30 Della Giusta, Marina. Demanding sex: critical reflections on the regulation of prostitution. Routledge, 2016.

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3.2. Research philosophy:
The main pillar of the research processes is research philosophy. It works as a
guidance to achieve the objective of the study. There are three types of philosophies that are
used. These are positivism, interpretive and realism. This report is based on the interpretive
philosophy.
3.3. Scope of the research:
It has been observed that there are certain loopholes in the implementation
process of the anti-trafficking regulation in both the countries and until those are not avoided;
the menace regarding trafficking could not be stopped. Proper planning is necessary in this
regard. Strict steps are required to adopt in this case. The literature review will help the
researcher to identify all the short comings related to the topic.
3.4 Research approach
The nature of the research should be based on data collection and processing.
In case to collect the data on the topic, qualitative approach should be made. The method of
data collection should be based on the three pillars such as case file review, victims and
experts. However, the data are being collected from certain web portals and various journals
and books.
Certain direct statements of the scholars are also being discussed here and the
legal parlances of each of the state have helped to narrate the comparison in between India
and UK on child trafficking. The website of UNICEF regarding child trafficking, legal
database of India and UK on child trafficking has been followed31.
31 Muraya, Dorothy Neriah, and Deborah Fry. "Aftercare services for child victims of sex trafficking: A
systematic review of policy and practice." Trauma, Violence, & Abuse 17.2 (2016): 204-220.