P RINCIPIOS CONSTITUCIONALES DEL SISTEMA TRIBUTARIO

from one plaCe to

another – they are

enSlaved In theIr oWn

vIllaGeS

44.

iNDiA CONtiNuED

116 _{US Trafficking in Persons Report 2012”, India Country Narrative, pp. 184-185, US Department of State: http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/192595.pdf} 117 _{“US Trafficking in Persons Report 2013”, India Country Narrative, p195, US Department of State: http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/210739.pdf} 118 _Ibid.

119 _{Observation (CEACR) – adopted 2011, published 101nd ILC session (2012), Forced Labour Convention, 19030, (No. 29): http://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=1000}

:13100:0::NO:13100:P13100_COMMENT_ID:3080704

120 _Ibid.

121 _{Information from field based sources.}

122 _{“India: Worst country in G20 to be a woman?”, (31 July 2012), BBC Radio Four: http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9741000/9741747.stm} 123 _{United States Trafficking in Persons Report 2013, US Department of State, p195: http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/210739.pdf}

124 _{“India’s new surrogacy laws are only part of the equation”, (14 March 2013), Monash University, Dr Liz Bishop: http://monash.edu/news/show/indias-new-surrogacy-laws-}

are-only-part-of-the-equation

migrants are droves of undocumented Bangladeshis who, as unskilled labourers, are not able to qualify for employment visas,116 _{and turn to illegal brokers to facilitate employment.}

Sexual exploitation of Indian women, men and transgender people within India, both adults and children, is widespread.117 _{Commercial sexual exploitation takes place in specific}

established areas but is also now much more dispersed into rural areas, transport hubs, roadside restaurants and houses in suburban areas, extensively using cell phones, making it harder to locate and tackle. Foreign women, largely from Nepal and Bangladesh, have been identified in situations of commercial sexual exploitation.118

In 2011, the ILO Committee of Experts “noted the Government [of India’s] indication in its 2008 Report that since the enactment of the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976 (BLSA), 287,555 bonded labourers had been identified, of whom 267,593 had been rehabilitated.”119

However, the ILO Committee of Experts also noted that “findings from research studies showed that bonded labour in agriculture and in industries like mining, brick kilns, silk and cotton production, and bidi making was likely to be affecting millions of workers across the country.”120 _{The ILO Committee of Experts has}

urged India to undertake national bonded labour surveys. Also, the identification and rehabilitation noted by the ILO Experts happened a long time ago, and in many Indian States local officials are not currently encouraged or supported to find bonded labourers.121

The 2012 UNODC Global Report on Trafficking in Persons noted a “global dimension to the [trafficking] flows originating in South Asia.” Indian nationals who have migrated for work have found themselves in modern slavery – often involving recruitment intermediaries and debt bondage – around the world. They have been exploited in various industries including construction, mining, agriculture and hospitality, in manual labour and commercial sexual exploitation, as well as in private domestic work and as domestic staff at Indian diplomatic missions abroad.

notable aspects of the problem

The World Bank estimated in 2012 that 32.7% of Indians lived below the international poverty line of less than US$1.25/day (PPP). Poverty and India’s caste system are significant contributing factors to its modern slavery problem. Indians most vulnerable to modern slavery are those from the ‘lower’ castes (dalits), and the indigenous communities (adivasis), especially women and children. In surveys of violence and discrimination against women, India is consistently ranked poorly. The low status of women and severity and prevalence of domestic violence in society puts them at risk of modern slavery.122

‘Non-labour’ forms of modern slavery, including forced and servile marriage, fraudulent adoption and organ trafficking have been identified in India. Forced marriage is partly fuelled by sex-ratio disparity – those states with worst disparity import girls into servile marriages from poorer states.123 _{Commercial surrogacy is}

legal in India and is an area of concern because of the potential for exploitation to occur, however no cases that would constitute modern slavery have been publicly verified, and surrogacy laws are in the process of being tightened.124

2. What IS the Government doInG about It?

The Government has taken some important steps to set up the infrastructure of a response to various forms of modern slavery. For example, if fully implemented, the social safety net provisions such as the Employment

Sexual exploItatIon of

IndIan Women, men and

tranSGender people

WIthIn IndIa, both

adultS and ChIldren,

IS WIdeSpread

45.

125 _{“India official: it’s not slavery” (10 March 2011), CNN Freedom Project: http://thecnnfreedomproject.blogs.cnn.com/2011/03/10/india-official-its-not-slavery/} 126 _{The Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976, Child Line India: http://www.childlineindia.org.in/CP-CR-Downloads/Bonded%20Labour%20System%20(Abolition)%20}

Act%201976%20and%20Rules.pdf

127 _{“Human Rights Worker Hospitalized as Brick Kiln Owner and Henchmen Attack Rescued Slaves During Police Raid” (13 June 2013), Free The Slaves blog: http://ftsblog.}

net/2013/06/13/human-rights-worker-hospitalized-as-brick-kiln-owner-and-henchmen-attack-rescued-slaves-during-police-raid/

128 _{“US Trafficking in Persons Report 2013”, India Country Narrative, p195, US Department of State: http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/210739.pdf} 129 _{Information from field based sources.}

Guarantee could be a best practice to be followed by other countries. However, considering the power and resources of the Indian Government, the Government has not fulfilled its duty to protect its citizens. Until recently, the response to human trafficking focused almost exclusively on the sexual exploitation of women and children, and other forms of human trafficking including those affecting men were barely recognised. National leaders tend not to recognise the violent criminality of bonded labour and instead see it as a vestige of poverty.125

India has ratified a number of key Conventions relevant to modern slavery. However, India is one of the few remaining countries in the world not to have ratified the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention. While not always slavery, these so called “worst forms” of child labour covered by this Convention, occurs on a significant scale in India and are deeply connected to the modern slavery issue. India’s

Right to Education – whereby the authorities are required to ensure all children of school going age are in school – is important, as is the Integrated Child Protection Scheme, which is making a difference in some areas. There have been efforts in many places to enforce child labour laws. India has not ratified the Domestic Work Convention.

Until recently, Indian legislation on modern slavery was complicated and confused. However, following amendments to the Penal Code in April 2013, section 370 Penal Code criminalises all forms of human trafficking in accordance with the definition taken from the UN Trafficking Protocol. The definition used in the amended Penal Code appears broad enough, at least on paper, to include most if not all forms of forced labour, bonded labour and forced marriage (as bonded labour and forced marriage are covered within the meaning of the term ‘slavery like practice’). However, it remains to be seen if the Penal Code will be used in this way.

Bonded labour has been criminalised in India, under the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act 1976 (BLSA)126 _{for close to three decades. However, enforcement has been sporadic and weak. The Act declares}

that bonded labour is abolished as of 25 October 1975, and that bonded labourers were relieved of their obligation to repay their bonded debt. However, in 2013, bonded labour continues to be prevalent and NGOs report having insufficient resources to empower communities to shed the burden of forced labour.

Human rights defenders have also been targeted for anti-slavery work: one NGO reported an attack on their workers, as well as victims and officials while in process of assisting bonded labourers to leave the workplace where they had been held in slavery.127 _{Penalties under this}

law are low, set at a maximum of three years imprisonment, compared to ten years under the recent human trafficking amendments to the Penal Code.

NGOs have stated that enforcement of laws criminalising modern slavery is inconsistent, and the complicity or interference of government officials has been widely reported.128 _{As a result national and state level}

responses are not benefitting those in slavery as much as they should, due to complicity of local officials and their avoidance of conflict with locally powerful slaveholders and traffickers. The justice system is very slow generally, so victims have little or no confidence in its capacity to deliver a result.129 _{NGOs have also reported}

a focus on the trafficking of women and children, particularly for sexual exploitation, and less willingness on the part of government and law enforcement to deal with the exploitation of adult males, or to address the far more locally prevalent forms of debt bondage or bonded labour.

INDIA Ratified

Slavery Convention Yes

Supplementary Slavery Convention Yes

UN Trafficking Protocol Yes

Forced Labour Convention Yes

Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention No CRC Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children Yes

Domestic Work Convention No