Human Trafficking Definition

There exist three discernible schools of thought associated with the definition of trafficking, even though there are varied perceptions. The first school of thought defines trafficking as that which has to do with forcible procurement of women and children and mainly focuses on sexual exploitation. The Convention on the Suppression of Traffic of Persons and the Exploitation for Prostitution of Others, 1949 was the foremost United Nations instrument that specifically addressed the definition and other related issues of trafficking. This convention was ratified by only 60 countries and remains largely unused and moribund till date. This convention has been regarded as abolitionist in nature by those countries which have legalized or regulated

Firstly, the econometric nature of the definition emphasizes only on the role of the market and its relationship with the push and pull factor of trafficking. Secondly, this definition associates trafficking in human beings with only the visible problems such as forced prostitution, coerced labor, etc. Trafficking has a whole sphere of activity which is largely invisible and which is thriving unmitigated. The relationship between undocumented migration and trafficking, the influence of the patriarchal order of society, the subtle forms of domestic trafficking and the power inequalities in societies are not explicitly explained in this definition

Section 5 of the Act speaks about the procuring, taking and even inducing a person for the sake of prostitution. According to this section, even an attempt to procure and an attempt to take or cause a person to carry on prostitution amounts to trafficking. Therefore, human trafficking in this Act has been given a broad scope without any precise definition. According to the ITPA, 1956 trafficking in persons does not mean prostitution. Trafficking is the process of recruiting, contracting, procuring or hiring a person for commercial sexual exploitation. Therefore, trafficking is a process and commercial sexual exploitation is the result. Another comprehensive definition of human trafficking is given in the Goa Children’s Act, 2003. This Act specifically focuses on child trafficking. It defines “Child Trafficking” as:

"the procurement, recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, legally or illegally, within or across borders, by means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of giving or receiving payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for monetary gain or