FROM BONDAGE TO FREEDOM 24 being in debt bondage. Thus viewing trafficking as labour problem brings to light many gross violations of labour rights of trafficked persons. 4. Trafficking as a Human Rights Problem When viewed from the human rights perspective, all the above three mentioned groups of violation of rights are automatically covered. Human dignity is the quintessence of human rights. Trafficking of human being is trade or commercial dealing. This makes trafficking a depraved violation of several human rights. “Treating human being as a commodity or chattel, which is a necessary incident of trafficking, the worst indignity heaved at the individual”.55 Thus, the consequences of trafficking are violation of human rights of trafficked persons. These human rights are violated not only by the traffickers but also by the State that in the first place has lent vulnerability to certain groups. Further, trafficked persons are vulnerable to arrest, detention and deportation because destination countries are unwilling to recognize they are victims of crimes. Destination countries view them as undocumented migrants who entered illegally and / or worked illegally. They often do not have the chance to lodge complaints, seek damages, assess whether it is safe to return home, collect their belongings or apply for asylum. Thus, from the perusal of the consequences of trafficking one can conclude that human rights perspective provides a bird’s eye view into the problem of trafficking. Therefore, in the next section a general discussion on human rights and various human rights issues involved in the process of trafficking would be taken up. H. Human Rights Human rights are inalienable rights of every human being without which one cannot function as a person, having free will and intellect. These are rights necessary for being human and hence are universal, inalienable and indivisible. They are based on fundamental principles of respect for human dignity, equality and non-discrimination. Initially, there was confusion surrounding these rights around the belief that certain sets of rights, say civil and political rights have precedence over another sets of rights, say economic, social and cultural rights. The 1993 Vienna Declaration adopted by the UN World Conference on Human Rights dispelled this confusion by concluding that: 55 Justice J.S. Verma, NHRC Information Kit on Trafficking in Women and Children, New Delhi, 2001,p.1.

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