SEX TRAFFICKING IN ASIA

According to the 2014 Global Slavery Index (GSI), there are an estimated 36 million
trafficked persons worldwide.1 Of the 36 million, nearly two-thirds of that figure comprise of
trafficked persons from Asia.2 Human trafficking is defined as, the recruitment, transportation,
transfer, harbouring or receipt of person, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of
coercion, of abduction, or fraud3 This article will explore the high rate of trafficking in South
Asia through the examination of regional trends and specific nation-states.
Forced labor, including sexual exploitation, is the most prevalent form of trafficking in South
Asia.4 This is largely the result of increased migration, both legal and illegal, that stems from
rapid changes in economic, political, demographic and labor trends as an outcome of
globalization, increasing demand for cheap labor and heavy population growth.5 Increased
migration also lends itself to targeting illegal immigrants that are forced into trafficking as their
only option for survival.6 Thus, there is a growing supply of trafficked persons, to meet the

1 Olivia Enos, Nearly Two-Thirds of Human Trafficking Victims are From Asia, The Daily Signal (Nov. 20, 2014),
available at http://dailysignal.com/2014/11/20/nearly-two-thirds-human-trafficking-victims-asia/ (last visited Jan.
25, 2015).

2 Id.
3 Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children,
Supplementing the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime, art. 3, opened for signature
Dec. 15, 2000, 2237 U.N.T.S. 319 (entered into force Dec. 25, 2003).

4 M. Bashir Uddin, Human Trafficking in South Asia: Issues of Corruption and Human Security, 2 Intl J. of Social
Work and Human Servs. Practice 18 (2014), available at http://www.hrpub.org/download/20140305/IJRH319201859.pdf (last visited Jan. 25, 2015); Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development
(AFPPD), Human Trafficking in South-East Asia (2013), available at
http://www.afppd.org/files/1113/8206/9530/Policy_Brief.pdf (last visited Jan. 25, 2015).

5 Uddin, supra note 4, at 18.

6 Id.

increased demand in the region.7 In the context of supply and demand, [t]he supply side is
associated with structural inequality, poverty, illiteracy and lack of opportunities for livelihood,
whereas the demand rises from the need of cheap labor in the destination.8
Cambodia, classified as a Tier 2 Watch List country by the 2014 Trafficking in Persons Report
(TIP Report) published by the U.S. State Department, is both a source for and a destination of
trafficked persons.9 In recent years, there has been an increasing rate of Cambodian men that are
forced to work in the fishing industry.10 In particular, a number of men were forced to work on
Thai fishing boats, which operate in international waters.11 Of the trafficked persons that
managed to escape, first-hand accounts tend to indicate that the Thai fishing boat owners falsely
recruited the trafficked men, lying about the length of service and wages.12 Some reports have
indicated that the trafficked men were forced to work on these boats for several years.13
Cambodian women and girls, continue to be targeted through migration.14 Recruitment agencies
have falsified documents to change the ages of children leaving the country, and once women
and children have entered the destination country, employers withhold their passports.15 This
7 Id.
8 Id.
9 United States Department of State, Trafficking in Persons Report, 120 (2014), available at
http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/226845.pdf (last visited Jan. 25, 2015); AFPPD, supra note 4.

10 United States Department of State, supra note 9, at 120.

11 Id.
12 Id. at 120-21.
13 Id. at 121.
14 Id. at 120.
15 United States Department of State, supra note 9, at 120.

trend continues, particularly in Malaysia, despite the travel ban, where domestic service
employment turns into domestic servitude.16 Because of the high poverty rates in the country,
children are also subjected to trafficking largely at the hands of their parents.17 The children are
transported to Thailand and Vietnam where they are forced into begging, sexual exploitation, and
domestic servitude.18 Within Cambodia, women and children both of Cambodian and Vietnamese
nationality are moved from rural areas into cities where they are forced to work in brothels.19
Many of the Vietnamese women and children forced into the sex industry were trafficked by
gangs that use Cambodia as a destination as well as a portal to Thailand and Malaysia.20 Child
prostitution remains a major issue in Cambodia, but the industry has largely moved underground.
Child sex tourism brings men from Europe and the United States, but Cambodian men keep the
industry profitable and thus, child prostitution remains in practice.21
India, classified as Tier 2 in the 2014 TIP Report, is estimated to have the largest population of
trafficked persons globally.22 Roughly 20 to 65 million Indian men, women, and children are
subjected to forced labor.23 Trafficking in India is almost entirely a domestic enterprise, and

16 Id.
17 Id. at 121.
18 Id.
19 Id.
20 United States Department of State, supra note 9, at 120.
21 Id.
22 Uddin, supra note 4, at 21
23 United States Department of State, Trafficking in Persons Report, 203 (2014), available at
http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/226846.pdf (last visited Jan. 25, 2015).

populations of lower classes are the most likely to be trafficked.24 Traffickers use physical and
sexual violence to exert control over trafficked persons; reports of rape, torture, and murder of
domestic servants highlight the horrific abuse.25 Employment agencies in the country are used to
traffic women and children across state lines into domestic and labor service placements, where
many experience abuse.26 Children are forced to work in factories, as beggars, and in
prostitution.27 In Northern India, children and adults are forced to work as carpet weavers.28 In
nine Northern Indian states, there were 2,612 cases of forced labor and 2,010 cases of bonded
labor in the hand-made carpet industry.29 Children are also used as beggars; and their traffickers
will often severely maim and injure them in an effort to bring in more money.30 Additionally,
young boys from neighboring countries are trafficked into India to work in coalmines, join
insurgent and terrorist groups rebelling against the Indian government, and to work in
embroidery factories.31 Moreover, millions of women and children are sexually exploited in
India.32 Many children, aged 9 to 14, are brought to India from Nepal, Afghanistan, and
Bangladesh.33 Women and children are also brought into India for sexual exploitation from
24 Id.
25 Id.
26 Id.
27 Id.
28 United States Department of State, supra note 23, at 203.
29 Id.
30 Id.
31 Id.
32 Id.
33 United States Department of State, supra note 23, at 203.
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China, Russia, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, the Philippines, and Uganda.34 Some women are forced
into sex trafficking after seeking the services of a matchmaker; the traffickers use these fake
marriages as a way to transport women from neighboring countries and force them into
prostitution.35 Finally, many girls are forced into religious prostitution, or what is called devadasi,
which means that they are servants of god.36 Girls from impoverished families are married to
Yellamma, the Hindu goddess of fertility, and are forced into prostitution once they reach
puberty.37 Some of the money the girls earned is used to support her family, which helps to
perpetuate the devadasi system within the poor, rural communities.38 Although the practice was
made illegal in 1988, it is estimated that, still today, there are 48,358 devadasis across India.39
Through examination of regional trends and the specific nations, it becomes apparent that
poverty, globalization, and inequality have perpetuated trafficking in South Asia. National and
international mandates regarding forced labor and sex trafficking are important steps, but must
be coupled with micro-level solutions that address the root causes of human trafficking.
Initiatives that promote education and economic development will offer impoverished
communities stability, such that they are less likely to be targeted by traffickers.

34 Id.
35 United States Department of State, supra note 23, at 204
36 Nash Colundalur, Devadasis are a Cursed Community, The Guardian (Jan. 21, 2011), available at
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/jan/21/devadasi-india-sex-work-religion (last visited Jan. 25, 2015).

37 Id.
38 Id.
39 Id.
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