Draft Trafficking of Persons Bill suffers from several flaws, fails to define ‘trafficking’
Draft Trafficking of Persons Bill suffers from several flaws, fails to define ‘trafficking’, does not address issues faced by millions of children pushed into sex work and ignores Amendments suggested in 2006 to the Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act, 1956 , says MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar
- MP makes detailed submissions on the Draft Bill
- Several child right organization support MP’s stand and submissions on the Draft Bill
New Delhi, June, 30th 2016: Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar submitted a detailed response to the Draft Trafficking of Persons Bill, 2016 – released by the Ministry of Women and Child Development for comments from stakeholders. In his detailed submissions, Mr. Chandrasekhar stated that the draft bill would not meet the foremost objective of putting an end to child trafficking for the purposes of sex work, which currently affects 1 million children in India.
Citing Government figures, Chandrasekhar stated that “there are 3 million people involved in sex work across the country, of which an estimated 40% are children – some as young as 5 years of age and the Bill in this current form does not address this critical issue.
The MP has been at the forefront of initiatives geared towards Child Protection since early 2014. In December last year, he initiated the formation of the National Coalition to Protect Our Children, a civil society group that will engage with the Government on the issue of Child Sexual Abuse.
Mr. Chandrasekhar’s stand and submissions on the Bill has been supported by the members of the NCPOC who include HAQ: Centre for Child Rights, FXB Suraksha India, Arz Foundation, Just and Care amongst others . The NCPOC too has made it submissions on the Bill.
Please click here for the copy of the MP’s detailed submissions: http://rajeev.in/rajeev_writes/Prevention_Protection_Rehabilitation/Letter_to_Honble_Minister_for_Women_and_Child_Development_June28_2016.pdf
The highlights of Mr. Chandrasekhar’s submission to the Ministry on the Bill are as follows:
- There is no definition of ‘trafficking’ in the Draft Bill.
- The Draft Bill does not state what forms and purposes of trafficking it will cover since no offence that amounts to trafficking is mentioned in the Draft Bill.
- Section 41 of the Draft Bill states that “Save as otherwise provided in this Act, the provisions of this Act or any rule made thereunder or any order made under any such rule shall, have effect notwithstanding anything inconsistent therewith contained in any other law for the time being in force or in any instrument having the force of law” i.e. that it will have an overriding effect on other laws, including the Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act, 1956.
- Since some of the sections of the Bill are weaker than the ITPA, this is another weakness in the bill.
- There is a need to define many more terms within the Bill, such as ‘sexual exploitation’, ‘sex tourism’, ‘pornography’, ‘brothel’ and ‘public place’.
- The Draft Bill does not make the trafficking of children for domestic servitude by placement agencies as an offence.
- The Draft Bill seeks to override all other laws even if its provisions are inconsistent with such other laws. This is a serious issue requiring attention as matters governing rehabilitation of children will have to be addressed through the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 and the mechanisms set up there under.
- The Draft Bill does not make mention of the Anti-Human Trafficking Units (AHTUs), on reporting of missing children to AHTUs or treatment of cases of children missing for more than a certain period as a case of trafficking.
- This bill had not followed the rules outlined in the Pre Legislative Consultation Policy – which call for the inclusion of a detailed explanatory memorandum to accompany draft legislations published for consultation, and called for the organization of an “Open House Pre-Consultation on the Draft Bill” “with the participation of all the necessary stakeholders like the National Coalition to Protect Our Children (NCPOC).”
