Sexual Slavery without Borders: Trafficking for Commercial Sexual Exploitation in India

Trafficking in women and children is a gross violation of human rights. However, this does notprevent an estimated 800 000 women and children to be trafficked each year across internationalborders. Eighty per cent of trafficked persons end in forced sex work. India has been identified asone of the Asian countries where trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation has reachedalarming levels. While there is a considerable amount of internal trafficking from one state toanother or within states, India has also emerged as a international supplier of trafficked women andchildren to the Gulf States and South East Asia, as well as a destination country for women and girlstrafficked for commercial sexual exploitation from Nepal and Bangladesh. Trafficking forcommercial sexual exploitation is a highly profitable and low risk business that preys on particularlyvulnerable populations. This paper presents an overview of the trafficking of women and girls forsexual exploitation (CSE) in India; identifies the health impacts of CSE; and suggest strategies torespond to trafficking and related issues.