The situation of human trafficking, mainly women and children, is getting more serious by the day due to the changing dimensions of trafficking, a new report has found.

The 2008-2009 prepared by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on trafficking of women and children in Nepal shows around 32,000 children and women were victims of trafficking in the past two years.

According to Padma Mathema, one of the NHRC’s researchers, trafficking remains a difficult issue to combat despite the efforts of various organisations given the changing dimensions of trafficking.

“Today trafficking in not just limited to commercial sexual exploitation but to labour exploitation, organ transplantation and for entertainment – circus and dance bars – purposes,” Mathema said.

Based on the definition of trafficking in the ‘United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children 2000’ and ‘Human Trafficking and Transportation Control Act 2007,’ many women and girls working in dance restaurants and in commercial sex are considered survivors of internal trafficking, the report said.

“The problem has emerged as a difficult one to address due to lack of efficient enforcement of prevailing laws and rising impunity,” Gauri Pradhan, the NHRC spokesperson, said.

“Traffickers are still getting support from political bodies, which worsens the situation.”

Date: 10 July 2010

Source: Ekantipur News