ANTI HUMAN TRAFFICKING CLUB (AHTC) GUIDELINES

ANTI HUMAN TRAFFICKING CLUB (AHTC)

GUIDELINES

1.    INTRODUCTION:-

About Human Trafficking:-

There is no doubt that trafficking of children and women for sexual and other forms of exploitation is a grave violation of their rights and dignity. It is one of the largest organized exploitations in Tamil Nadu, as much as in India. Human trafficking involves recruitment, harbouring or transporting people into a situation of exploitation through the use of violence, deception or coercion and forced to work against their will. In other words, trafficking is a process of enslaving people, coercing them into a situation with no way out, and exploiting them. It is indeed rampant across Tamil Nadu.

People can be trafficked for many different forms of exploitation such as forced prostitution, forced labour, forced begging, forced criminality, domestic servitude, forced marriage, and forced organ removal. When children are trafficked, simply bringing them into exploitative conditions constitutes trafficking. People are trafficked due to ignorance, lack of education, awareness, issues at home, demand at the [places of exploitation, etc. These are factors which can be addressed at the source, transit and destination areas if the stakeholders decide to prevent and work together. Under Article 23 of the Indian Constitution, every citizen is a stakeholder, having a constitutional obligation to prevent trafficking in children and women.

 

Human trafficking in India:-

Although illegal under Indian law, remains a significant problem. People are frequently illegally trafficked through India for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced/bonded labour. Although no reliable study of forced and bonded labour has been completed, NGOs estimate this problem affects20 to 65 million Indians. Men, women and children are trafficked in India for diverse reasons. Women and girls are trafficked within the country for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced marriage, especially in those areas where the sex ratio is highly skewed in favour of men. Men and boys are trafficked for the purposes of labour, and may be sexually exploited by traffickers to serve as gigolos, massage experts, escorts, etc. A significant portion of children are subjected to forced labour as factory workers, domestic servants, beggars, and agriculture workers, and have been used as armed combatants by some terrorist and insurgent groups.

India is also a destination for women and girls from Nepal and Bangladesh trafficked for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation. Nepali children are also trafficked to India for forced labour in circus shows. Indian women are trafficked to the Middle East for commercial sexual exploitation. Indian migrants who migrate willingly every year to the Middle East and Europe for work as domestic servants and low-skilled labourers may also end up part of the human trafficking industry. In such cases, workers may have been 'recruited' by way of fraudulent recruitment practices that lead them directly into situations of forced labour, including debt bondage; in other cases, high debts incurred to pay recruitment fees leave them vulnerable to exploitation by unscrupulous employers in the destination countries, where some are subjected to conditions of involuntary servitude, including non-payment of wages, restrictions on movement, unlawful withholding of passports, and physical or sexual abuse.

Human trafficking in India results in women suffering from both mental and physical issues. Mental issues include disorders such as PTSD, depression and anxiety. The lack of control women have in trafficking increases their risk of suffering from mental disorders. Women who are forced into trafficking are at a higher risk for HIV, TB, and other STDs. Condoms are rarely used and therefore there is a higher risk for victims to suffer from an STD.

Source: https://www.antislavery.org/slavery-today/human-trafficking

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_trafficking_in_India

2.    ABOUT ANTI HUMAN TRAFFICKING CLUB:- (ATH Clubs):-

AHT Clubs started in Kerala in 2014, as an initiative to involve College youth in preventing and combating human trafficking. The success was so good that the impact of the outcomes were appreciated well by all. The Chief Justice of Kerala formally launched the AHT clubs of Kerala in 2016. In 2019, Government of Kerala issues an order that all Law Colleges and BEd colleges set up AHT Clubs.

Having seen the best impact of AHT Clubs in Kerala, in the year December 2019 ICWO – Indian Community Welfare Organisatiion. The proposal here is to set up AHT Clubs in all Districts in Tamil Nadu and cover maximum number of Colleges in each District; empower them, link them with NGOs and police and help them on working towards preventing human trafficking.

3.    SCOPE OF LEARNING FOR THE STUDENTS:-

First be aware of the issues related to Human Trafficking. Share knowledge with others and protect themselves. Help women and children to stay safe from exploitation through education. Be a change maker in identification, rescue and reintegration of traffic survior. Gain experience in organizing campaign and network with various government and non-government agencies. Be confident and bring proud to the college/institutuion to involving themselves for a social cause. Become the youth ambassador in this mission.

4.    ACTIVITIES:-

The AHT Club is focused and specific in its target and mission. All activities of AHT Clubs will be rights-based and rights-oriented. Think from the perspective of the trafficked person or the person vulnerable to trafficking.

Once the Club is launched, the members learn the dimensions and trends in human trafficking and take all steps to prevent them. It is known that human traffickers mostly target women and children. The traffickers capitalize on their vulnerability and lure them by deception, coercion or force. The Club members realize the fact that human trafficking takes place on the one side due to “demand” and on the other side, due to the vulnerability of the victims. Therefore, AHT Clubs will take work towards addressing both.  

The Clubs will also disseminate public awareness against trafficking in children and women, which will include on-line trafficking and on-line sexual exploitation. The AHTC can organize awareness campaign and events like Rangoli Competition, Face painting, Short film contest, Rally, Marathon, Workshop, Seminar, Poster Competition, Slogan Competition, Painting Competition and in many more creative ways to STOP Anti Human Trafficking in Tamilnadu.

The activates will include the following steps:

a.         Recognize - Know what human trafficking is and be aware about its various dimensions. Use this learning and awareness to generate and spread further awareness.

b.         Report - Look out for incidences where human trafficking is prevalent and be quick to take action. Help response agencies to take action.   Your vigilance and support can and will bring accountability from all concerned. Where there is no visible path, keep walking; others will follow and the determination will pave the way.

c.          Rescue - Join the existing efforts to rescue victims of human trafficking, support law enforcement agencies and care givers in their action, be whistle blowers against exploitation of human beings.

d.         Campaign against human trafficking, including the vulnerability factors that cause human as well as the demand factors that cause and perpetuate human trafficking and thereby generate zero tolerance to exploitation of human beings.