FROM BONDAGE TO FREEDOM C. 9 Historical Background of Trafficking In order to understand the phenomenon of ‘trafficking in persons’, and to obtain a clear and unambiguous definition it is of utmost importance to trace the historical development of the concept of ‘trafficking’. The problem of trafficking can be traced back to the time of Greek City states. Its history is full of attempts on the part of the States to regulate, control and to limit certain sections of the society and certain kind of activities like prostitution. The Greek State and following it others regulated prostitution but in spite of the best efforts of the State and of other social agencies, prostitution has retained itself in large towns since the last 2,500 years proves how deep-rooted it is in human social life. Social, economic and moral changes in society, which necessarily influence different aspects of its social life, have affected this institution as well. The Abolitionist Movement that set in at the end of the 19th Century brought with it a system of State regulation of prostitution. It was the spread of venereal diseases that the demand of its total abolition started to be heard. Apart from this, the inquiries conducted by various social organizations at the end of the 19th century revealed that women were more often than not forced into this profession and did not embrace it willingly as was the misconception hitherto. The Governments sought to introduce severe legislation and also aimed at its strict enforcement. The elusive nature of trafficking was due to the fact that the various acts for carrying it out constituted a crime, were never all committed in just one country. It involved the enticing away of girls from one country on some deceitful pretext, to another for her complete exploitation. The earliest understanding of term “trafficking” comes from UN instruments. The term “traffic” was first used to refer to the so-called ‘white slave trade’ in women around 1900. The trafficking and voluntary migration of white women from Europe to Arab and Eastern States as concubines or prostitutes was of particular concern to European middleclass men, women and government. The result was the creation of an international agreement for suppression of the ‘white slave trade’ in 1904. At this time, traffic meant the movement of women for an immoral purpose i.e. prostitution. Initially, this definition required the crossing of country borders, but by 1910 it changed to acknowledge traffic in women could occur within national boundaries. Traffic in women was seen as related to slavery but also to be closely linked to prostitution. The link between trafficking and prostitution solidified even more in the following decades, most clearly in the adoption of the 1949