Analysis | South Asia's Unspoken Sex Trafficking Problem
Prostitution or Sex Slavery?
If one looks closely enough at the patterns, prostitution in South Asia inadvertently leads to sex slavery and forced prostitution. According to a survey released in 2006 by the International Journal of Gynaecology & Obstetrics, every year nearly 225,000 men, women and children from the South Asia fall victim to human trafficking — the majority of whom are sold into the sex trade. A study of American Human Trafficking shows that 1 in 7 women engaged in commercial sex in the U.S. is a trafficking victim. In Mexico, that figure is even starker, going as high as 1 in 4. For South Asia, however, there are no comprehensive statistics available to identify what percentage of women in prostitution are victims of sex slavery and what percentage enter the profession voluntarily — a question which quickly becomes a loose assumption based on illiteracy, poverty, loss of traditional livelihoods, and wide economic disparities.
These are widely-accepted leading factors of vulnerability to human trafficking. As South Asian populations are disproportionately affected by illiteracy, poverty, economic shocks, and inequality, its people face much greater threats from human trafficking; Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh are among the top 10 countries of the world with the most reported cases of human trafficking. There are major gaps in the data available to comprehensively and accurately assess the issue of human trafficking in the region. As a result, legislative bodies have lapsed in their responses, unwilling to address the issue without concrete data. The ideal solution would be to treat the underlying causes in order to impede a domino effect, but there is a tendency among legislators and policymakers to view the problem of human trafficking in isolation to the socio-economic factors which contribute to it, ultimately leading to ineffective strategy and political stagnation. If policymakers want to make an earnest effort in dealing with this problem, they must shift the influx of capital towards the social betterment of the people, namely health and education.
‘What Sex Trafficking Problem?’
In the same way that South Asian countries maintain a ban on the usage of drugs and narcotics while supporting rehabilitation centers for addicts, so too must governments not only ban sex trafficking, but pursue policies to provide for those trapped in the sex trade. Simply banning sex slavery will neither prevent it nor free those trapped in its vortex; there must be a concerted effort to both mitigate the causes of human trafficking and to provide for those that have been affected by it.
Governments must step in with material and economic support to uplift people with alternate means for economic advancement and counseling services. Rehabilitation shelters should be established that provide vocational training and therapy services to these women and children. However, much of South Asia is yet in an early stage of development — meaning that governments are necessarily concentrated on economic development and growth. It’s unlikely that the rights and rehabilitation of sex workers will be made a priority issue by any South Asian government in the near future. However, the underlying issues that propel human trafficking in fact are the same ones that hinder economic growth. Hence, it’s in South Asian countries’ own economic interest, as well, to prevent human trafficking and sex slavery.
According to the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) by Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI), South Asia hosts 33.4% of the world’s poor. In a blog post titled, Poverty in South Asia: The Long view, Christopher Finnigan cites political unrest and civil wars as the greatest contributing factors rendering South Asian countries’ anti-poverty policies ineffective. In extension, corruption and non-transparent fiscal transfer programs serve to widen the fiscal gap in the economy and have rarely, if ever, resulted in the empowerment of the masses.
An Ostracized History
With the exception of Bangladesh, all South Asian countries have banned prostitution. Even though the practice is legal in Bangladesh, it is highly controversial and comes with colossal social taboos. To understand the plight of sex workers in South Asia, a close reading of colonial history and sociology is necessary.
During the colonial era, courtesans were held in high regard due to their proximity to the ruling Mughal elite. During the unsuccessful First War of Independence in 1857, several courtesans (such as Begum Hazrat Mehal) resisted the British army, in part leading the insurrection against them. This earned them the wrath of the victorious British colonizers, who subjected them to humiliating punishments in the aftermath. The Cantonments Act of 1864 institutionalized prostitution by fixing the number of legal prostitutes to the number of regiments of British soldiers. The living arrangements of these women were restricted to certain parts of the town and they were subjected to regular demeaning medical examinations to ensure the good health of British army. The classification of prostitutes was based on racial superiority, much like the process of colonization itself. Prostitutes from the upper class were prohibited from serving Indian men in order to uphold white supremacy and racial purity.
The systemic exclusion of sex workers from the mainstream framework is a colonial legacy that is being carried forward by moral purists and religious values that usually take precedence in the region. No South Asian politician in their right mind would risk offending the religious or racial sensitivities of the vote bank — especially when much of the vote is catered to on the basis of race and religion. The shame and taboo revolving around prostitution has prevented politicians from addressing the plight of sex workers but that should not necessarily prevent them from taking practical measures. Perhaps not all humanitarian efforts should be weighed in terms of election campaigns and vote magnets. In order to progress on egalitarian grounds, the marginalized members of the society need to be given the same launching ground as the rest of the members.
One could argue that, in order to end this systemic oppression, politicians be held responsible for their respective constituencies and keenly monitor ground-level movement to disrupt the patterns in place. This hypothetical solution would be ineffective because the politicians themselves often play an integral role in human trafficking. Much like the British colonizers that facilitated commercial exploitation of women and children for their personal gains, the local ruling elite adapted the same patterns instead of abolishing them. Official complicity remains the most significant factor as to why the government does not take vigorous efforts to control the problem of human trafficking, Pakistan is both the source and destination for sexual exploitation of women and the compliance of law enforcers in this well-oiled machinery leads to futile results in bringing about any constructive change.
The Infrastructure of the Sex Slavery Industry
According to the 2018 Trafficking in Persons Report of Pakistan conducted by UNHCR, there is a structured system in place that ensures the smooth running of this matrix. Women and girls are sold into forced marriages, where their new husbands pimp them off in the market like tangible goods. These women are bought from destitute parents who see this as a two-pronged solution: to improve their financial means while also fulfilling a social obligation to marry off their daughters.
Prostitution is not an individual enterprise — it is maintained by a complex structure of privileged pimps, managers, and brothel owners. According to UNICEF, 21% of Pakistani girls are married off by the age of 18, and 3% before 15. What percent of child brides are further victimized for sex trade remains unknown due to a dearth of research conducted in this area. However, cases of child brides leveraged for the sex trade are reported in the news and media daily, demonstrating that they are links in the same chain of supply.
Secondly, there is a sex industry that exists under the garb of vast begging rings. Women and children are sexually exploited on the streets by a mafia so strong and well-integrated with the system that no government’s administration has been able to take a stand against them. Furthermore, Pakistan has an unusually large number of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) (due in part to natural disasters and domestic military operations) which are more prone to sex trafficking. Illiteracy, poverty, and a lack of access to basic healthcare facilities remain common underlying factors in all of the aforementioned circumstances.
Circumstantial Disposition to Prostitution
There is no accurate way to distinguish between forced and voluntary prostitution in the region. Rather, the prevalence of “circumstantial prostitution” — when an individual’s financial desperation drives them to prostitution — must be addressed as fait accompli. Women in the region are particularly marginalized and often lack access to education or vocational training that might provide means to elevate their economic status. Even for those who manage to get an education, the pay scale is tilted in the favor of men. With their backs against the wall, many assume they have nothing else to offer but their body. The circumstantial disposition to prostitution is an uncharted territory that requires public attention and governmental support to mitigate and overcome.
At present, the government is administering to 26 rehabilitation shelters to support the victims of sex trafficking. The quality of care remains debatable, but the number of centers in itself is insufficient. These shelters claim to provide education and vocational training to equip women with alternate economic means, yet ironically, it’s the lack of access to these facilities that make one stratum of the population more vulnerable than the rest. Ground-level access to health and education services as a precautionary and preventive measure would seem necessary not only on its own merits, but as a requisite for the government’s other initiatives to hold water.
As of 2018, data obtained from the World Bank shows that Pakistan’s health and education spending rests at 2.9% each of its GDP, and India's at 3.53% and 3.85% respectively. The health and education budgets — and the initiatives that are driven by them — need to be drastically increased to address the underlying causes of human trafficking. It is counterproductive for a state to emphasize a higher GDP and rapid economic growth if the majority of the population remains exposed to forceful professional choices that they would not choose otherwise. No political party would have to take a radical religious or moral stance in order to support the marginalized members of the state. When one simplifies the scaffolding around complex problems, the foundations often reveal rather basic solutions: the quality and accessibility of healthcare and education.
Edited by: Cameron Vaské
All views expressed in this article are solely those of the author, and do not represent the views of The International Scholar or any other organization.
Photo Credit:
Waiting for Something, by Jan Arendtsz, Flickr,
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