A Study of Cross-Border Trafficking Activity from Nepal to India
Jessica Chen | September 21 | 1:30-2:30 PM | Room 2592
At the border between Nepal and India, citizens are free to cross without being required to show identification. The porousness of the border has led to the flourishing of human trafficking from Nepal into India. In response, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) began setting up unofficial checkpoints along the border to identify and assist women and girls whom they believed were being trafficked. Tiny Hands Nepal (THN) is an NGO that operates 20 border-monitoring stations in Nepal. THN began border-monitoring in 2006 and has collected extensive data from thousands of intercepts, including demographics of the trafficking victims (i.e., age, gender, education, economic status, and employment), motives for going abroad, recruitment methods, promises offered, relationships to traffickers, trafficking routes, and destinations. THN also facilitates the filing of legal cases against traffickers. This presentation will do a case study of approximately 30 convictions to analyze: 1) what substantive and procedural factors may lead to a successful conviction; 2) what proportion of intercepts lead to legal action; and 3) the factors relevant to whether legal action is taken.
Presentation Objectives:
· Provide findings from over 4 years of data collected by THN about trafficking from Nepal to India
· Identify trends and compare them with the prevailing understanding of human trafficking trends in Nepal