Political party manifestos often feature terms like 'employment', 'women's empowerment', 'youth opportunities', and 'prosperity'. However, terms like human trafficking are rarely explicitly mentioned. What does this mean?
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When human trafficking is discussed in Nepal, we see it as a social problem related only to cross-border crime, women and children. However, the reality seen in recent years is different. Today, human trafficking (especially internal human trafficking) has become a national issue deeply intertwined with Nepal's economy, labor market, urbanization and state governance. Therefore, those working in this field believe that this issue should be included in the manifestos of political parties. The trafficking of children under the age of 18 has also increased.
Words like 'employment', 'women's empowerment', 'youth opportunities', 'prosperity' are abundant in the manifestos of political parties. However, words like human trafficking are rarely mentioned clearly. What does this mean? This means that parties still see human trafficking as an agenda of NGOs, not as a central political issue of the state. Until this thinking changes, such issues will get some slogans and issues, but the root of the problem will not be solved. It is also a clear sign that this issue is not a political priority. It seems that the parties are unable to understand the reality that human trafficking is also being produced within the same structure as the slogans of employment, development and prosperity are presented.
Internal human trafficking: A sign of state failure
Human trafficking in Nepal is no longer limited to crimes committed across borders. Internal migration from rural areas to cities in the name of employment, education or ‘opportunities’ is institutionalizing the exploitation of workers in domestic work, construction, hotels and restaurants, entertainment sectors, brick kilns and the informal labour market. Human trafficking in Nepal is no longer limited to crimes committed across borders. Internal migration from rural areas to cities in the name of employment, education or 'opportunities' is institutionalizing the exploitation of workers in domestic work, construction, hotels-restaurants, entertainment sectors, brick kilns and the informal labor market. Children, adolescents, young women, children and youth from marginalized communities are at the center of this cycle. Due to the increasing technology, complaints of urban adolescents being victimized through social media or other digital means have also started coming in.
Today’s human trafficking is not limited to the ‘forced abduction’ incident that it used to be. Its form is gradually becoming based on deep exploitation that appears to be consensual. Youth are lured into cities using words like ‘job opportunity’, ‘training’, ‘modeling’, ‘dance’, ‘hostess’, ‘domestic work’, where they are taken to the informal labour market without social or legal protection. The use of digital media, social media and mobile technology has reduced the distance between the middleman and the victim. Identifying problems and potential risks has become more difficult. And, the process of trafficking is becoming faster and more agile. The mobile phone that is in hand has become a means of trafficking. This shows that human trafficking is no longer just a question of crime, but a problem of a governance system that has failed to keep pace with the state's regulatory capacity and technology.
These incidents are happening not abroad, but within our constituencies, in our cities and villages. However, if the state cannot keep its citizens safe within its own geography, it is not only a social but also a political failure. Therefore, it is time for such issues to find a place in the election manifesto. We are in a situation where more issues than infrastructure development should find a place in the manifesto.
Looking at the data,
Earlier, human trafficking used to be reported in the news as people rescued from across the border. When it came to human trafficking, it was assumed that it was only international. However, times and circumstances have changed. Recently, news has started coming that minors are being rescued from places like spa centers and restaurants. The cover of human trafficking has changed.
According to police data, 36 minor sex workers were rescued from various brothels across the country in the fiscal year 2077/78. Similarly, 64 minor girls were rescued in the fiscal year 2078/79. 59 in the fiscal year 2079/80 and 85 in 2080/81. 82 minors were rescued in 2081/82 and 18 cases were registered. Similarly, 66 minors were rescued until December 2082/83 and 7 cases were registered.
The Human Trafficking Investigation Bureau has said that additional campaigns are being conducted to rescue minors. The reason for the increase in such incidents is unemployment and the greed for a luxurious life. According to police data, from November 2023 to the fourth week of May 2024, 11 cases of trafficking of minor girls in brothels were registered, and 18 people have been arrested.
According to police data, from November 2023 to the fourth week of May 2024, 11 cases of trafficking of minor girls were registered in the cafeteria, and 18 people have been arrested. Perhaps these numbers are enough to make party candidates go to their respective constituencies and express their opinions on this issue. It may not seem credible to say that people are being sold within the country, but it is becoming a serious social problem.
In addition, these data show that the state organs have worked and the bureau is active. However, it also indicates that the state's prevention system is weakening, risk identification is being delayed, and policy interventions that should precede rescue are failing. The number of rescues is commendable, but prevention efforts must continue.
Today, the rapid migration in society, increasing urbanization, an informal labor market that is expanding beyond the reach of the state, a growing employment crisis among youth and women, and a lack of sustainable rehabilitation after rescue - these are not separate problems. These are interconnected symptoms of the structural weaknesses of the state. Therefore, the time has come to view human trafficking in a limited way as 'a problem area'. This issue needs to be linked to the state's responsibility and as an indicator of state governance.
If political parties truly want to make human trafficking a national priority, then a clear outline of this must be visible in their election manifestos - making internal human trafficking a separate priority, establishing an anti-trafficking mechanism with a budget at the local level, strengthening regulation and labor inspection of the informal labor sector, ensuring a victim-centered rehabilitation fund, developing a data and reporting system linking the federal-provincial-local levels, and orienting parliamentarians on this issue.
Among the many questions that voters will ask political parties and candidates in the upcoming elections, another question may be - how does your manifesto plan to protect citizens who are trafficked within their own country? If there is no clear answer to this, then that manifesto may carry the dream of development, but it does not carry the issue of justice and equality. Human trafficking is no longer just a social issue, but a political issue at the center of Nepal's governance, economy, and democracy. And, it cannot be ignored or sidetracked anymore.
