FROM BONDAGE TO FREEDOM 1. 2. Migration problem 3. Labour problem 4. Human Rights problem. 22 Trafficking as a Problem of Crime There are manifold crimes committed both in the process of trafficking and in the commission of end purposes for which people are trafficked. The very definition of trafficking as given in the UN Protocol talks about crimes such as threat or use of force, coercion, abduction / kidnapping, fraud and deception being committed. Similarly, the end purposes of trafficking are generally recognized as offences by most of the countries. These include slavery and forced labour; debt bondage; forced prostitution; child sexual abuse; removal of organs and illegal adoption. Further, many crimes are committed when a trafficked person is prepared to be absorbed for the above mentioned end purposes. This process can be best elucidated by examples of women who are trafficked into forced prostitution. Such women may either be sold outright to a brothel owner or sold at an auction. After being sold, many women undergo what is known as ‘breaking in’ period. ‘Breaking in may be done either through physical means such as, repeated rapes, gang rapes, electric shocks, solitary confinement and beating by brothel guards. One common tactic in India involves both physical and psychological means52. Certain brothel staff treats the victim abusively, telling her repeatedly that she is dirty or defiled, while another staff member consoles her and tells her that she is a part of the family53. Once a woman or girl is “broken in”, she is forced to work for long hours without breaks. She is not allowed to go out and refusal to service a customer tends to result in beatings or other kinds of abuse. Further, she is denied access to contraception, and has no control over her body. This has led to prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases in trafficked women particularly the fatal HIV virus54. Thus, one finds that many crimes such as assault, battering, rape, sale of human beings, unlawful detention, total confinement, torture etc are committed when a person is initiated into a “chosen field”. 52 Ian Cao, “Illegal Traffic in Women: A Civil Right Proposal”, 96 Yale L.J. 1297, 1302. 53 Human Rights Watch, “Nepali Women and Girls Trafficked to India”, The Human Rights Watch Global Report on Women’s Human Rights, New York, 1995. 54 Supra note 43.