Accounts from a first time ‘undercover’ experience

I am riding through Mumbai, I look out of the car, as the investigators point out places where prostitution takes place. Mansions, apartments, areas which otherwise I would have thought off as mere residential dwellings. One old building apparently holds about 500 women!!!

We are undercover, with the investigators pretending to be pimps and I, a dummy customer. Being my first investigation, I am nervous, but the investigators know their stuff. They have maintained a relationship with the brothel keepers and have them convinced that they are pimps bringing prospective customers- I am one of them. I am led into a building which looked quite shabby from the outside. I am seated in a room well furnished. The lights are switched on and a bell is rung. In walks a line of women. I think “how these girls must hate the sound of the bell”. I’ve seen this kind of thing in movies, but this is actually happening in real life. These women really expect me to pick one of them and to just go away with her. The goal is to find minor girls. Normally a very emotional person, I distance my emotions from the situations I am encountering. I need to do my best in this mission, and show of feelings now could jeopardise the whole operation. Girls are giggling, trying to meet my eye. But not seeing any minors, I say no I’m not interested in any of them and then almost immediately these girls are sent out and a new line of girls come in. I say no again and then am taken to another floor of the house where again the same scene takes place. I say no to these girls too and pretend to leave with the undercover investigators, suddenly the brothel keepers bring out a single girl. It is evident she was below 18 years. The mission had succeeded. We have identified a minor girl and could now work on plans for her rescue.

As I walk through Kamathipura, India’s largest red-light area, there are girls on either sides of the street waiting to pick up customers. They all seem pretty young to me, but I’m later told that the ones on the streets are over 25 years and that makes them old and not much value for the brothel owners. The really young ones on the streets are in fact the daughters of the sex workers. These girls often have n choice but to enter the profession. Either because this is what they’ve grown up seeing their mother do, or they have no other choices, or the brothel keepers eventually get them in. I am also told that a research found that most older women seen prostituting on the streets were in fact trafficked when they were young. 11-13 years, the average age of reaching puberty, is usually the age trafficked. After so many years in this trade, the women have no choice but to remain. Which family will take them back? What else can they do and how will they earn a living? If they have HIV then what? Who will marry them? Who will be willing to look after them and their children? The answers are not to be found and so the women remain and accept their fate.

I walk on and see smartly dressed men standing outside the building. I am later told that those are pimps. I wonder why I don’t see the same in all areas. I learn that in those areas the investigators themselves are acting as pimps, so we have direct access to the brothels. Some areas are traditional red light places. So even if it is in the middle of a commercial district, it is accepted.

The latest trend is for minors to be taken out of the red light area. Raids have become very common, so brothels are on high alert. They prefer to keep the young girls in apartments and conduct dealings through phones, internet and other technology. So a customer just has to call and have a girl arranged for pick up. Pimping has taken on a new level of sophistication.

As I walk through the area I think, here are girls being forced to do the most horrendous of work often for their whole lives. And the same road has the mithai shop and the pan wallah, the jeweller, and people just walk on oblivious  -denying the activity of human trafficking for so long that it has become accepted.

(These narrations are from a visitor taken for an investigation experience)

Information: Minors and Majors

I spent the past 2 weeks in Mumbai, observing and learning about human trafficking in the form of Commercial Exploitation and how our team is working against it. My next posts will be dedicated to my experiences here. But first I’d like to share information that would help you better understand what I will be talking about. This pertains specifically to the Indian context.

I will be mentioning the terms minors and majors often, particularly in the context of prostitution. Minors are person below 18 years and Majors are persons above 18 years. A Raid refers to a rescue operation. This is carried out by an entire team of investigators, lawyers and social workers with the help of the police. The purpose is to rescue minors in brothels where they have been forced into commercial sexual exploitation (prostitution).

On the same topic, reading my posts you might wonder why the emphasis only on minors all the time. With the investigators looking for minors and the social workers worried about minors, what about the major girls? Aren’t they also exploited? By law when a raid is done, all women whether majors and minors need to be rescued. Of course we believe that all women in prostitution have been forced into the profession at least some point in their lives. Those who are tricked and then trafficked, those born of sex workers or those driven by poverty. But looking at the situation from a legal perspective there are 2 aspects to be kept in mind – prosecution of the accused and rehabilitation of the victim. Legally speaking, there is no definite law in India that define the legal status of prostitution-legal or illegal. Though the law does mention what sort of prostitution is a crime (soliciting in public through a pimp etc), it is largely a grey area. There are 2 laws in the country that specify the crime of prostitution a minor – the Juvenile Justice Act 2000 and the Immoral Trafficking (Prevention) Act 1986. For a girl below 18 years there is no room for consent. Legally it is taken that she has been forced and sexually abused against her will. Therefore when a minor is rescued from a brothel, police cooperate because there is no doubt in the case and the prosecution of the accused is a sure shot case. Whatever a minor says in court is irrelevant to the case whether she says she gave consent or not because there is no room for consent by minors. With majors it becomes more difficult. When a raid is being conducted, majors say that they are forced into this trade and want to get out. But often in court they change their statements for whatever the reasons might be. At this time because she is over 18 years, whatever she says is taken as true and off her own will. At then there is no possibility of prosecuting the accused.

When it comes to rehabilitation of the victim the J.J.Act 2000(and the case of Prerana vs. State of Maharashtra write petitition no.78 of 2002. ) states that for children in need of care and protection, there is a 4 month period during which she is in government c are. During this period her home study, counselling and longer rehabilitation and repatriation plans need to be fixed. This gives the organisation time to process the case and ensure that the victim gets justice and care. With majors there is compulsory government custody only for 21 days which is too short a period to complete any concrete rehabilitation plans. Girls are brought from the remotest villages all over India, with many times the families involved in trafficking her, it become very difficult to carry out proper follow-up. After 21 days she has to appear before court. Because she is an adult of free choice she can make a choice of what she wants to do. If she wants to remain in the rehabilitation home then the judge will grant her 1 year or 3 years custody during which time the social workers will develop a rehabilitation plan for her. But if she says that she wants to return to the brothel then the organisation has no say if the court grants her release to go back. .

What is Human Trafficking?

Human Trafficking is a crime against humanity. It involves an act of recruiting, transporting, transfering, harbouring or receiving a person through a use of force, coercion or other means, for the purpose of exploiting them. Every year, thousands of men, women and children fall into the hands of traffickers, in their own countries and abroad. Every country in the world is affected by trafficking, whether as a country of origin, transit or destination for victims.

Article 3, paragraph (a) of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons defines Trafficking in Persons as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs

Elements of human trafficking

On the basis of the definition given in the Trafficking in Persons Protocol, it is evident that trafficking in persons has three constituent elements;

The Act (What is done)

Recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons

The Means (How it is done)

Threat or use of force, coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power or vulnerability, or giving payments or benefits to a person in control of the victim

The Purpose (Why it is done)

For the purpose of exploitation, which includes exploiting the prostitution of others, sexual exploitation, forced labour, slavery or similar practices and the removal of organs.

(The above definitions have been taken from the UNODC website http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/what-is-human-trafficking.html)

My posts will stem from this understanding of Human trafficking anddrawout experiences from the Indian Context.

Taking the first step

“What are you doing now?”.“I work with an organization called Justice and Care in India”. “Oh really? What does the NGO do?”. “We work on anti-human trafficking” is my reply. This is followed by a series of mixed reactions. Often surprise and then awe. Sometimes confusion and then an expression of concern over the fact that I am putting myself in danger working in this field. What is apparent in all these situations, is that almost always people have no idea what Human Trafficking is really about and therefore have misconceptions on what I as well as the NGO I work for, is doing. It is alarming that there is such ignorance on an issue that is so stark and pertinent to the world and particularly in India.

Then, two months into the job I was told to start a blog as part of my job role. “Write about human trafficking and our NGO”. Here was my chance, I realized, to show people why they need to wake up and be aware of the issue. How the evidence of Human Trafficking is so blatantly taking place around us.

Sure, I expect and want people of different backgrounds and countries to read this blog. Those with prior knowledge seeking information and updates on the issue but also those who’ll now do a double take in their minds and next time question what they see and hear. To be honest, Human Trafficking for me was a subject I dealt with at university. I had even done volunteer work on issues related to it. So ofcourse I was sensitive and felt for it, discussed and debated it, but was never a part of what I call a ‘movement against it’. Through my recent work, I have discovered a whole new level of human suffering, questioned so-called realities and have taken a stand to fight against intolerable injustice. Along the way I have come across others who are fighting the same battle in trying to get the vulnerable out of the system or those that are trying to get out themselves. People who write, debate and campaign it as their cause or those like me for whom an interesting job profile has turned into a matter of the heart.

And now I come back to the first para where I was supposed to elaborate on how I go about explaining Human trafficking to people. But the issue cannot be described in a few sentences… it takes a blog!!! So come back and read my future posts where I will explore on why I’m dedicating an entire blog to Human Trafficking, how I encounter it, and in turn encourage you to relate it to situations you come across in your lives.

Nalini Andrade

Research Associate

Justice and Care, India