NEW DELHI: The ministry of women and child development on Monday issued a statement pointing that concerns expressed by certain UN human rights experts on the Trafficking of Persons (Prevention, Protection and Rehabilitation) Bill “seems to be emanating from a lack of understanding of the Bill in question”. In a statement released on July 23, the UN experts sought that “India must revise the planned new legislation to tackle trafficking to ensure the measures it proposes are in line with international human rights law.”

Countering the criticism, the government has stated that “the Bill is in conformity with various international standards.” The Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha last week and will now be introduced in the Rajya Sabha for approval.

In a statement issued jointly by Maria Grazia Giammarinaro, special rapporteur on trafficking in persons, and Urmila Boola, special rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, it has been stated that the Bill does not give due consideration to the rights and needs of the victims and their protection and proper rehabilitation. It has also been stated that the Bill seems to conflate sex work and migration with trafficking. They have said that the proposed Bill seems to promote ‘rescue raids’ by the police”.

The government has argued that “the Bill is the first ever comprehensive legislation in the country concerning trafficking in humans which deals with aspects of prevention, protection and rehabilitation to the victims. It addresses the gaps of the earlier laws that only defined and penalized trafficking.”

“The definition of trafficking has been taken from Section 370 of the Indian Penal Code which does not apply to consenting adults and sex workers, as clarified by the J S Verma Committee. While it criminalizes trafficking for the purpose of pushing a woman into sex work, it does not punish the act itself. At no point is the victim held as a criminal, or detained against his or her will,” the ministry has added.

“Similarly, the Bill seems to conflate trafficking and smuggling of migrants by adding the aggravated circumstance of ‘encouraging or abetting any person to migrate illegally into India, or Indians to some other country’. This may lead to the criminalisation of all irregular migrants, including victims or potential victims of trafficking, who, because of a lack of safe, orderly and regular migration channels, are forced into the hands of smugglers or traffickers,” the experts stressed.

The government counters this saying that the Bill maintains a clear distinction between trafficking and the smuggling of migrants. “The Bill does not criminalise migration per se. It is the trafficker made liable under the Bill who promotes irregular and exploitative migration, and not the migrant.”

