Desperate Times: Activists Warn That COVID-19 Might Result In A Huge Spike In Human Trafficking

Tarannum's (name changed) wrist is covered with cuts and scars which are reminder of her years in a brothel which saw her sexually exploited many times.

"Three years of hell," she says as per a PTI report.

She is a daughter of a fisherman in the Sundarbans and the 13-year-old Tarannum was trafficked by a local shopkeeper eight years ago. He tricked her on the pretext of getting her a job as domestic help and promised a good pay.

In Delhi, he sold her to a brothel. Three years later, a local NGO rescued her, thanks to aid from the police. However even after coming back home, she was haunted by the trauma which drove her to try to take her life several times, by trying to slit her wrists.

Shutterstock (Representational)

She is recovering now and prays nobody has to go through what she endured.

Reema (name changed), another survivor, has no memory of her parents. She can remember her father just a little. When she was very young, a brothel owner got her started in prostitution.

She was eventually rescued from Sonagachi, West Bengal, in 2013 at 21. This was after years or sexual abuse across the nation.

These two are among thousands of children and women who fall prey to human trafficking.

This year with the outbreak of the coronavirus, activists and researchers are worried that an exponential increase in human trafficking cases will take place in the coming times.

Roop Sen, anti-trafficking researcher and gender rights activist, said it's 'undeniable' that those on the margins of society are vulnerable to trafficking.

"The reasons are manifold like debt trap, closing down of factories, restaurants and retail shops, probable rise in demand of young girls and women in red light areas," he said.

PTI (Representational)

According to Sen, among the steps the government can take to combat human trafficking are cash transfer support to more vulnerable families and communities, cash transfer to children and adolescents attending schools and creating safe migration services.

He further suggested that anti-human trafficking units can gather intelligence on trafficking in hotspots.

Sambhu Nanda, an activist from West Bengal who coordinates an NGO-network called Partners for Anti-Trafficking, claimed that multiple reports of missing and trafficking of girls have been received in the past two months.

"Even when parents reported the cases to local police stations, the officers pleaded helplessness, since all their energies were focused on COVID prevention," he said.

Pompi Banerjee, a member of NGO Sanjog, said the vulnerabilities due to the lockdown and the pandemic are essentially the susceptibilities that have existed for a long time, but at a scale where they were not highly visible issues.

"The pandemic, the lockdown, and in parts of our country devastating natural calamities (floods and cyclones) are now accentuating these vulnerabilities and have brought them out in the open, visible enough that they can no longer be ignored by the law enforcement and politicians," Banerjee said.

PTI (Representational)

N Rammohan, anti-trafficking activist from Andhra Pradesh who runs NGO HELP, claimed that many sex workers, who are the earning members for their families especially for their children, have been driven to take loans under exorbitant interests during the lockdown period.

"The local loan sharks who are not registered under the Money Lenders' Act, especially operating in red light areas, are poaching women with adolescent girls and encouraging them to take loans under high interest. When they would be unable to repay their loans, the sex workers would be forced to prostitute their daughters," he said.

Priti Mahara, Director, Policy Research and Advocacy at CRY (Child Rights and You), said that separated and orphaned children are also particularly vulnerable to trafficking and other exploitation like forced begging and child labour.

"The state needs to be prepared to provide enough child care homes/facilities, improve the quality and safety standard of childcare homes, child sponsorship and foster care. There are increased chances of many children getting separated from families, becoming orphans or falling out of the safety net," she said.