Nexus of Trafficking, Smuggling and Migration: Analysis on trafficking of Women from Nepal to India

Introduction

Trafficking, smuggling and migration are different but inter-related issues. The nature of movement of people has undergone elementary conversion in the 21^st century with different dimensions, challenges and complexities. In mid 90s, trafficking in persons was not taken as a part migration phenomenon. This chapter begins with the explanation on conceptual differences between Migration, Smuggling and Trafficking. This will explain migration as a broad concept where trafficking and smuggling are sub-sets of migration. The difference will be elaborated by underlining how the involvement of movement of people differs in each scenario. This will further stressed by using the different aspects mentioned by the IOM on two concepts. Hence, the main dissimilarities between these concepts will be identified with the nature of coercion, exploitation and violation of human rights within the process. Finally, this discusses on trafficking and migration as a livelihood strategy in Nepal. This discussion will take place to address the problem statement and the first hypothesis mentioned in the chapter 1. By giving the assets linked with “livelihood strategy”, this chapter will discuss on the same in the context of Nepal.      

5.1. Population Movement

Migration has two generic types of population movements; Voluntary and Involuntary movements. Involuntary or forced migration happens when people are compelled to move out of their homes or places in large groups.  People flee or are forced to leave their home or places of habitual residence out of fear of harassment or events threatening to their lives or safety[1]. All though the people leave their home on their own initiative, on occasion, groups of people are forced to leave, often by armed groups, with several intentions such as internal and ethnic cleansing, political instability etc. Those forced to leave their home either cross international borders seeking to refuge or move to a place within the state-borders. The first group is known in general as “refugee”, whereas the second group of people is termed as “internally displaced people” (IDPs). Refugees move, not by choice but under compulsion or for better livelihood. Special status is given for refugees in international law under the UN Convention and Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees overseen by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). Definition is given, a refugee is a person who is owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his/her nationality and is unable to or owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself/herself of the protection of that country or return there for fear of persecution.[2]

The other type of group is known as the voluntary migrants, who move out seeking for a better livelihood or other reasons. This kind of migration is an approach of people to enhance their conditions of lives. People who migrate voluntarily are known as “migrants”, “labor migrants” or “economic migrants”. However, according to IOM, the term “Migrant” covers all cases where the decision to migrate is taken freely by the individual, for reasons of “personal convenience” and without intervention of an external compelling factor. These people migrate due to many reasons as highlighted above such as poverty, lack of employment opportunity, and disaster.  As per IOM, there are 214 million migrants worldwide by today and the total number of international migrants has increased over the last 10 years from an estimated 150 million in 2000 to 214 million persons today. And most amazingly, 49% of migrants worldwide are women[3] . Hence, this second group or voluntary migration is one of the main focuses in this chapter, as many Nepalese women intended to migrate to India seeking for s better livelihood and a better status of live. According to Poudel and Carryer (2000), Women in Nepal have been identified as they are lack of vocational skills, ill treatment by parents/ guardians, desertion by spouses, rejection in love, gender discrimination, debt bondage, fenced love or marriage and unemployment[4], hence they tend to search for a better live by migrating. The initial decision of these women made voluntarily as their eager for seeking a better life. According to a study done by Hennik and Simkhada(2009), most of victims seem to be trafficked by trusted members of their community including their relatives and he names such relatives as uncles, aunts, cousins, brothers and stepfathers[5].  When they initially start the process of migration voluntarily, these women are most of the time deceived by false promises which they have to face at their destination.  This is the main reason we can point out when analyzing the nexus of migration and trafficking.

5.2. Conceptualizing Trafficking, Smuggling and Migration

The literature on trafficking and migration examine various definition of the phenomenon, which reflects different interpretations and aspects of the topic so do the concept of migration. And this was further elaborated extracting various definitions in the chapter 2.

The nexus between migration and trafficking is very important to understand.  Trafficking of women between India and Nepal occurs along with the people’s movement or the longstanding Migration on purpose. So it is very important to understand what is really described as “Trafficking” in the case of Nepal. The hypothesis of this thesis stresses that when people cannot get through the process of migration to India successfully and unharmed then their trauma is labeled or most probably misinterpreted as “Trafficking”. These two appear to be very similar and the way of migration by traffickers is a significant aspect of this similarity. Both involves in the physical movement, where migration gives basis and context in which trafficking occurs and both of these processes create vulnerability for the people.

Migration is a broad concept where trafficking is only a sub-set of migration. Trafficking is different when it involves the movement of people for the purpose of exploiting their labor or services. Trafficking in persons is a movement either internally or internationally due to deceit, force, threat, debt bondage or other form of coercion involving exploitation and violation of human rights.[6] Hence, Trafficking in persons results in abusive exploitation and human rights violations. The concept of regular migration is determined when the migration is taken place through regular and legal channels. Regular migration therefore covers the aspects in the definition of “migrants” and to “migrant workers”. According to the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, a “migrant worker” is a person who is to be engaged, is engaged or has been engaged, in a remunerated activity, in a State of which, he or she is not a national. Therefore regular migration implies a voluntary nature of migration.

When defining the distinction between migration and trafficking, it is important to understand the main components which disintegrate two concepts. The presence of exploitation or violations of rights are trafficking. There can be some wrong attempts made to distinguish migration as a labor issue and trafficking as a human rights issue.[7] These two phenomena are further complicated when both the regular and irregular situations come in to play. However, one of the main significant aspects I would like to highlight here is that violations of rights of migrants are addressed by a specific set of legal instruments which are different from the legal procedure for addressing trafficking cases. According to the IOM, the differences between Migration and Trafficking as given below;

• Trafficked persons are deceived or forced (actual or by threat) to move. Whereas, regular migrants are not usually deceived or forced to leave their place of residence. But, sometimes it could be difficult to draw a line between the two concepts, as there are grey areas in between blurring a clear distinction.

• Both trafficking in persons and migration share the same “migratory space” as both involve movement. Nevertheless, the two phenomena have very different reasons behind movement and outcomes, with trafficked persons being exposed to a “harm” situation and end up in slave like situations. Exploitation, profit and illegality are all central to the idea of trafficking in persons. That is certainly not the case in the regular migration process.

• Trafficking is a development-retarding phenomenon, whereas regular migration is generally a development enhancing process.

• Trafficking is viewed as an anti-social and morally degrading heinous event. However, migration is widely considered as a process that could enhance social progress in both the origin and destination countries, if managed properly; it could also be an empowering process for the migrants.

The concept of smuggling in migrants is yet another area, which we need to pay attention on, in order to understand the nexus of Trafficking and Migration. Smuggling in migrants is a phenomenon in which a person acts to facilitate his/her border crossing in an irregular manner, with the help of an entity and by making a financial or other material payment to another person or entity[8]. When tracking the differences between trafficking in persons and smuggling in migrants, the most critical factor is the presence of force or coercion in the process. Hence, the consent of the individual involves in the movement.  Smuggling in migrants according to the IOM is differentiated when a person was misled about the dangers of the journey, and irrespective of the treatment that person receives at the hands of smugglers, provided there is consent to the original transport and provided an exploitative relationship does not develop or was not envisaged between the two parties.[9]

The real challenge comes to a place, when differentiating the two concepts is where the both process involves similar stages. If a person goes out of the country as a smuggled migrant, but then becomes a victim due to abuse or exploitation and subsequently ended as a harm situation, then this person can be considered as a trafficked person. It is accepted that the main purpose of smuggling is to facilitate to enter in to another country in illegal manners. However, there are incidents that smuggled migrants are exploited during the process. These complications make the distinction between trafficking and smuggling a challenging task.

Even the International Organization for Migration also makes the distinction between these two processes. IOM describes, trafficking occurs when a migrant is illicitly engaged and/or moved, either within national or across international borders when smuggling occurs when there is only illegal facilitation of border crossing.[10]

Accordingly, the main difference between the two processes is identified due to coercion, exploitation and violation of human rights. Smuggling is a person entry to a country with the involvement of third parties which assists to achieve entry. Trafficking considers the working condition as well as the entry to the country. Trafficking is always involving with coercion and exploitation that also involves human rights violations. Trafficking mainly involves with women and children forcing them to be in commercial sex, work in sweatshops, forced labor, begging and forced labor. Hence, we can brief the differences, as smuggles migrants somewhat know the ways and means of migration and they voluntarily engage in the process, while Trafficked persons are very rarely aware of the process specially about the exploitation. also, smuggling always involves international cross-border movements, while trafficking has the possibility of occurring even within national borders.

Accordingly, we can categorize the main differences of the three concepts as below;

Trafficking of women from Nepal to India often involves migration however as mentioned above the activity may not be recognized as trafficking until the destination is reached and the deception is revealed. Until then a journey may be indistinguishable from voluntary migration.[1] Women who get trafficked to India are most often become to this situation after a voluntary migration. This is taken place either directly or indirectly. Direct routes into trafficking were the result of deception and force, where as women and girls were deceived and get trafficked directly to India. Those who become victims of trafficking through indirect routes, are typically those who migrate from villages to urban areas for employment they are then sold to a factory and used as bonded labor until their transport to an Indian brothel can be arranged[2]. According to The Asia Foundation report on trafficking in Nepal, intervention models trafficking or migration operates through personal connections and social networks.  For example, an aunt returns to the village and takes a niece back to the city with her. Women are attracted by reports of wealth and fun in the city, and are easily become prey into trusting the mediator. Some women are even deceived into false marriages with the broker and are subsequently sold into the sex industry.  

Migration between India and Nepal is undocumented. Officially, about 589,000 Nepalese work in India, which is 77 % of all Nepalese migrants[3]. However, Nepalese Immigrant Associations (2002) estimate that there are between 1.3 to 3 million Nepalese in India. Due to this reason of un-documentation, it is not easy to define the real data of migration and trafficking.  Trafficking of Nepalese women to India has been described by Deepa Mehta, the Director General of Police in Delhi (2003), as “less risky than smuggling narcotics and electronic equipment into India[4]”. There seems to be little obstruction to sending the women at a time over the border without documentation or police checks. Hence, when they initiate the process from migration, most of the time it happens through illegal manners and ended up unexpected and harmed situation. This links migration and smuggling with trafficking although many Nepali women are trafficked in circumstances far removed from what is normally understood as migration. There are instances according to Denis Wright (2008) where male migrant labor in other countries contributes to trafficking of women and girls of their own nationality. This happens in the case of Nepal as mentioned above, where not only the male migrants, but also the women who known to the victims involve in this process.

As mentioned earlier also, lack of reliable information on situation of trafficking of women in Nepal has become a reason for the lack of conceptual clarity as well. Asia foundation organization had identified some organizations appear to focus on their anti-trafficking initiatives on protecting women by preventing their movement within or outside the country, which consequently classifies migration as trafficking, hence fail to understand that migration as the key livelihood strategy.  

5.3. Migration and trafficking as a Livelihood Strategy

A livelihood comprises the capabilities, assets (including both material and social resources), and activities required for a means of living (Carney 1998). A livelihood strategy can then be defined as a strategic or deliberate choice of a combination of activities by households and their individual members to maintain, secure, and improve their livelihoods. For many, but certainly not all, social settings, the household was recognized as the most relevant social group and hence the most appropriate unit of analysis, acknowledging that the “forms of households vary across time, space, and socio-economic groups” (McDowell and De Haan. The proponents of migration as a livelihood strategy sees that poor individuals cannot be seen as inactive victims of globalized economy. According to Susan Thieme (2006), livelihood strategies are linked with livelihood assets. These are social, human, financial, natural and physical capital;[5]

·         Social Capital

o   Networks, memberships of groups, relationship of trust and reciprocity, access to wider institutions of society

·         Human Capital

o   Age, education, gender, health, labor, skills

·         Financial Capital

o   Credits, debts, earnings, remittances, pensions, savings

·         Natural Capital

o   Common property resources such as land and water

·         Physical Capital

o   Basic infrastructure such as property or rented housing or land, physical and social infrastructure etc.

Therefore, the livelihood strategies are an enhancement of household positions for the increase of wealth and well being.

In the case of Nepal, Migration is playing an increasingly important part in Nepal’s economy and in people’s livelihood due to poverty, unemployment, lack of resources as discussed in above chapters and the recently ended Maoist insurgency. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), 2001- 2002 data, of total migrants, 12% are female and 77% have gone to India. It is the poor, illiterate and mostly unskilled people who have very little choice and therefore migrate to neighboring country, India, which is also encouraged by the socio-cultural similarities between the two countries for generations[6]. Their vital needs for work and life opportunities had turned migration into a common livelihood strategy in Nepal; hence increase the cases of trafficking. Despite the immense awareness, women in Nepal still become prey for traffickers, this is mainly because they are still looking for life opportunities through migration, and later get trafficked during the process. Information I gather from 3 of my primary sources, confirmed that they can agree with this view.  This is the main reason I mention in my hypothesis that, it cannot be always justified that the trafficking in women happened in Nepal due to the unawareness of the victims, but trafficking can be bought out as a livelihood strategy in Nepal with an intentional negligence[7]. According to a work done by The Asia Foundation on “Prevention of Trafficking and the Care and Support of Trafficked Persons”, two-thirds of sex workers in Nepal state that they entered sex work by choice, while 38% cited influence by female friends, 9% by other family members, 6% by pimps, 4% by brothel owners and 4% by mothers. Hence, we can see sex work of women in Nepal has become a livelihood strategy. The social, familial, economic and other circumstances which lead women to enter sex work, definitely increase their likelihood of being trafficked.

In my discussion with Rajan Parajuli, he pointed out that there are some special clusters where most of the families are trafficking victims, which makes the migration and trafficking as a source of revenue for their families.  He also stated that even though women in the society are much aware of this, they still take the risk to believe traffickers and their false promises since they need an income to live.

Conclusion

This chapter wraps-up with the conceptual clarity of migration, smuggling and trafficking in the initial section. It was identified that these three concepts are inter-related but can be differentiated by distinct aspects. When all three notions engage with the movement of people, it can be differentiated when the person’s consent is involved. Migrating and smuggling can be taken place with the consent of the person, while trafficking occurs by force, coercion and deception etc. Migration happens legally, while smuggling and trafficking are two illegal activities. When migration helps to improve the livelihood of the people in the society, trafficking is a development-retarded phenomenon. Trafficking of women from Nepal to India also involves migration and this may not be recognized as trafficking until the destination is reached and the deception is revealed. Most of the cases take place with the voluntary migration and ended up with trafficking specially with the intervention of known persons. This chapter ends with the discussion on migration and trafficking in Nepal as a livelihood strategy. Despite the numerous preventive and awareness attempts taken place all over, trafficking is still a continuous crisis in Nepal as most of the women still try to seek for a better earnings and conditions by migrating across the country. 

   

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[1] Anti-trafficking programs in south Asia, D. Huntington, 2001

[2] Sex trafficking in Nepal, Dr. Hennik and Dr. Simkhada, 2004

[3] HMG et al.2002

[4]Deepa Metha, the effective administration of criminal justice to tackle trafficking in human beings and smuggling of migrants in India, 2003

[5] Social Networks and Migration: Far West Nepalese Labour Migrants in Delhi, Susan Thieme, pg 41

[6] Susan Thieme, 2006

[7] Hypothesis 1

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[1] Forced Migration and the evolving humanitarian regime, Susan F. Martin, UNHCR working paper, 2000

[2] Convention relating to the status of Refugees, 1951

[3][3] Global Estimates and Trends, IOM

[4] Girl-trafficking, HIV/AIDs, and position of women in Nepal, P. Poudel and J. Carryer

[5] Sex trafficking in Nepal: Context and process, Dr. M. Hennik and Dr. P. Simkhada

[6] IOM

[7] Migrant Trafficking and Human Smuggling, IOM

[8] IOM

[9]  Ambiguities and Confusions in the Migration-Trafficking Nexus: A Development Challenge, IOM

[10] IOM