Policy Briefs & Reports

A Review of the Immoral Traffic Prevention Act, 1984

Kiran Bhatty

Centre for Policy Research

November 10, 2017

Human trafficking, a form of organized crime that extends across borders, covers various forms of human rights violations, ranging from commercial sexual exploitation to forced labour and organ donation. Over the years it has taken on more complex and diverse forms making it necessary to reform laws and strategies geared towards its eradication and control. Tragically, the involvement of children, especially girls, has also grown. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in its 2012 Report the share of minor girls trafficked increased from 13% in 2006 to 17% in 2009. The Report also shows that trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation accounts for 57-62% of all victims of trafficking. In order to deal with this growing menace the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime developed the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children (2000), to provide the international legal framework through which trafficking could be combatted world-wide. Countries, like India, who have ratified the protocol, are obligated to amend their domestic laws accordingly to deal with the problem at the national level.