Human rights approach to human trafficking: With specific reference to regulating prostitution in India

Abstract

In today’s world, strong distinctions exist between the human and non-human worlds, ensuring that human ethics are not jeopardized by inhumane behaviors. As a result, on the other side of the border, we find an area that is a legal and political non-territoriality, a zone unimaginable in terms of the rule of law, human rights, and democracy. In short, we track down people who may or may not exist, either socially or legally. These areas are built on the foundations of new types of captivity, illicit human organ trafficking, underage labor, and prostitution abuse. Human trafficking has been the focus of strengthened laws aimed to prevent it over the last few decades, despite the fact that it is not a new phenomenon. This entails, for example, criminalizing the problem and its engaged actors, as well as enhancing victim entitlements and rehabilitation. According to Oxford Dictionary, “Trafficking” means “the unlawful act of transporting or coercing people in order to benefit from their work or service, typically in the form of forced labor or sexual exploitation”1. The conceptual meaning of human trafficking refers to “the criminal practice of exploitation of human beings where they are treated as commodities for profit and after being trafficked, they are subjected to long-term exploitation”. Whereas some believe that this would be the best path to take, others believe that other factors should be considered in order for these safeguards and security to be fully useful. To begin with, efforts and legislative approaches aimed at combating trafficking, particularly sex trafficking, have failed to reach agreement on a description of this specific sort of trafficking. The fact is that there are several contending interpretations, but there is minimal consensus among experts and campaigners. Wider or narrower definitions of sex trafficking have an impact on the data that are given and, as a result, the steps that are taken to prevent it. Finding firm and dependable data for sex trafficking, whether on a national, or global level, is challenging, and this has resulted in two utmost stances that can do minimal to relieve trafficked women.