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The Lost Generation: India's Railway Children, Part I

30 million people fall victim to human trafficking each year. 10 million of this number are children. Startling figures from India have highlighted the particular prevalence of trafficking in the region, leading commentators to declare a "lost generation"—the reality of life in a country where more than five children are reported missing every hour.

By Jennifer TurtonPublished 5 years ago 5 min read
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A man sits below a slogan highlighting the prevalence of child trafficking in India

Introduction

Human trafficking has been recognised as one of the most pressing issues facing contemporary global society, with the OCHR, World Bank and UN having all addressed ongoing concerns about the growing "industry." The human cost of trafficking, however, remains a little-known and even less-discussed phenomenon, with popular news media seemingly either unconcerned or ill-informed about events which should arguably hold the front page on a daily basis. The injustices of trafficking and the considerations for human rights violations which might occur as a result, have merely scratched the surface of the dark realities that victims, often young children, face every single day. A life of uncertainty, cruelty, sexual abuse and forced labour. A life of being denied even the most basic access to shelter, healthcare and family. A life of being subjected to untold horrors at the direction of their captors. A life which, really, is no life at all.

Many might not have even considered the numbers of people affected by human trafficking each year. Many more may think that the number is likely in the thousands. Most would be surprised, however, to hear that reportedly, the figure is believed to be somewhere in the region of 30 million. It's horrifying to hear that of these, around 10 million are children. Whilst trafficking continues to be a concern even amongst the most developed nations, it has been observed as being largely concentrated in the Middle East and Africa, with countries such as Dubai and the UAE being reportedly used as through-routes for traffickers. The case of India, however, has largely gone undocumented, particularly in the world's media. This is a concern, since the Global Slavery Index in 2016 estimated that there were around 18.3million people suffering from modern slavery (which, according to WorldVision, is a term utilised interchangeably with human trafficking to describe the exploitation of human beings for profit), or a prevalence of 6.1 victims per 1000 population.

So what is human trafficking? Definitions differ, but in general terms, human trafficking can include the following practices.

Bonded labour (also referred to as debt bondage), which occurs when individuals borrow from moneylenders or employers, and then must work to repay the initial debt, often being charged an exploitative rate of interest. Ultimately, the debt continues to grow, and these individuals are forced to continue working for their employer/creditor, often in harsh conditions with long working hours.

Forced labour, which usually involves some form of threat to either the worker or their family, leaving them unable to stop working. This often arises when individuals are vulnerable, such as in cases of children, those in extreme poverty, conflict, political unrest, or those subjected to other forms of discrimination.

Child labour, which sees children as young as five working long hours and days in factories, undertaking hard labour and being deprived of their childhood. Such work is often dangerous, and children are not afforded an education or other basic rights that they are provided under the UN's Convention on the Rights of the Child. The ILO in 2017 reported that approximately 152million children are victims of child labour worldwide, with around 73million of these working in hazardous conditions.

Sex trafficking refers to the forced sexual exploitation of children or adults. Girls and women worldwide are forced into prostitution, often being transported to different countries, where they are kept in unsanitary conditions and made to "work" for their traffickers' profit. Charitable organisations working to help those in this situation often report that young girls and women are trafficked abroad, where their passports and other documents are withheld from them, and where they have no choice but to obey captors, who, through force, fraud or coercion, prevent them from leaving.

Forced marriage is still commonplace in many cultures, with very young girls being "promised" to older male relatives, often with a fee attached. The recognised definition of forced marriage is the marriage of two individuals where one or both participants do not consent, or have been subjected to coercion or abuse to enforce the union. Forced marriages can also be linked to sexual exploitation, and in countries like India, girls as young as 11 face consequences of this including pregnancy, genital mutilation and rape.

Involuntary domestic servitude usually takes place within private homes, when individuals are kept as "slaves," made to work in improper conditions, for long hours, and sometimes without pay. Violence, coercion, and other types of abuse are frequently used to ensure that victims cannot escape their captor. Notably, cases are difficult to identify, since victims are often trafficked illegally, meaning that they either do not "officially exist," or that there is no record of them being in the country. Exactly how many cases of this kind of trafficking occur is unknown, but there are thought to be in excess of 10,000 victims in Britain alone.

Child soldiers are often abducted from their homes and families, before being forced to train as combatants. These soldiers are often sexually exploited, are used as suicide bombers or human shields, and suffer from indoctrination at the hands of their captors. The most notorious cases have been linked with ISIS, a militant organisation in Syria and Iraq.

The Railway Children: A Crisis of Enormous Proportions

A young boy sits on the rails of one of India's railway stations

India's many railway stations have long been a draw for runaway children, homeless families and those living in abject poverty. Scenes like the one above characterise these stations: dirty, open and unsafe. The country has the second-largest railway system in the world, which is widely used by the population, and reportedly shockingly overcrowded in popular locations. Films, documentaries and the popular media have often honed-in on pictures of train passengers hanging from the sides of carriages, whilst Business Insider in 2016 reported that more than 11,000 trains operate each day in the country, and that more than 1.4million people are employed to work on the railways. Reported abductions such as that of a 5-year-old girl, who was also raped, from a railway station in Haryana, whilst her parents slept next to her, have gone some way to bringing recognition to the scale of the problem. The girl was later found, bleeding, but alive. However, many thousands of other children are thought to fall victim to similar fates, without ever being reported missing. This is their story.

End of Part I

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About the Creator

Jennifer Turton

A BA (Hons) and MA Graduate in Criminology and Law.

Independent International Research Consultant on Crime and Terrorism

Mum-of-three!

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