Southern States
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Tamil Nadu
'Trafficking victims caught in unfriendly set-up'
By Our Staff Reporter
CHENNAI, DEC. 8. Governments must exert pressure on law enforcement agencies to apprehend and prosecute those who traffic in women and children for commercial exploitation, says Ms.Pamela Shifman, associate director, Equality Now, an international human rights organisation.
It was the global trend that prosecution of victims was at least three times more than prosecution of the real offenders - traffickers, pimps and brothel owners. She was speaking at a lecture-discussion here on `Combating Trafficking in Women and Children: Initiatives and Strategies', organised by the Public Affairs section of the US Consulate. Ms.Shifman has worked closely with Congress to develop the `Trafficking Victim Protection Act' and is involved in work against sex tourism agencies in the U.S. Advising a shift in priorities, she said the state should ensure that victims of sexual abuse were not `re-victimised'. At present, law enforcement agencies were biased against the commercial sex workers and lacked sensitivity to the problems of these women and children. The set-up was so unfriendly that victims of trafficking were afraid of approaching law enforcement agencies.
Ms.Shifman called for a detailed look into the demand side of the problem, as prostitution was looked upon as a lucrative profession. Statistics showed that around 7,00,000 women were being trafficked in every year and forced into prostitution. In this case, governments must spend resources to warn women of the dangers of being drawn into the net.
Another area that would have to be examined was the future of the children of commercial sex workers, for whom all other options were shut out.
Since trafficking was transnational, communication between countries which were involved, either as senders, transit centres or receivers of women and children, was necessary. `` We need to form a global network to counteract this problem. Everybody must work together in tandem across the world, in order to stop trafficking in women and children. It is definitely possible,'' she said.
Legal censure of such activities must be actively promoted, as stringent punishment was an effective deterrent.In this context, the example of the U.S., which last October passed the Trafficking Victim Protection Act, could be followed. The law ensured that trafficking was made a crime, attracting upto 20 years in prison.
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