La Strada Documentation Center

Sex trafficking in South Asia

Document number
1895
Date
2006
Title
Sex trafficking in South Asia
Author/publisher
Sigma Huda, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights Aspects of the Victims of Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, United Nations Commission on Human Rights
Availability
View/save PDF version of this document
Document type(s)
Research/Study/Analysis,
Keywords
International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics (2006) 94, 374—381, Trafficking; Sex-Trafficking; HIV; AIDS; South Asia
Summary
Abstract Economic and social inequalities and political conflicts have led to the movement of persons within each country and across the borders in South Asia. Globalization has encouraged free mobility of capital, technology, experts and sex tourism. Illiteracy, dependency, violence, social stigma, cultural stereotypes, gender disparity and endemic poverty, among other factors, place women and children in powerless, non-negotiable situations that have contributed to the emergence and breeding of the cavernous problem of sex trafficking in the entire region. This alarming spread of sex trafficking has fuelled the spread of HIV infection in South Asia, posing a unique and serious threat to community health, poverty alleviation and other crucial aspects of human development. Although the SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) Convention on Trafficking in Women and Children has been an important breakthrough, most of the countries in the region do not have anti-trafficking legislation or means to protect the victims. Countries of the region should make a concerted effort to treat trafficking victims as victims of human rights violations in all anti-trafficking strategies and actions.
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