Pandemic-hit human trafficking survivors face livelihood question

A recent analysis by a group of NGOs under Tafteesh - a coalition of survivors, professionals and activists - shows that the lockdown has severely impacted the economic lives of women survivors

The lockdown forced Anupama Mondal to shut shop at her village in South 24 Parganas, West Bengal. The 18-year-old has been to hell and back before. In 2016, she was rescued from Delhi after being forced into sex trade for a year.

A couple of years after returning home, she managed to set up a grocery store. But after the Covid-19 pandemic induced a nationwide lockdown in March, it became unviable. In her village, people were hit by a double whammy — the pandemic followed by the catastrophic Amphan cyclone. Her neighbours could no longer afford to buy goods, which she used to fetch from outside the village.

Mondal, who is part of a collective formed last year called the Indian Leadership Forum Against Trafficking (ILFAT), is now planning to revive her business after securing a loan with assistance from a self-help group.

The teenager, who lives with her parents, grandparents and two siblings, is among the fortunate ones in the community of trafficking survivors. Her family subsists on the farming income of her father.

A recent analysis by a group of non-governmental organisations under Tafteesh — a coalition of survivors, professionals and activists — shows that the lockdown has severely impacted the economic lives of women survivors.

The analysis is based on data collected from four survivors’ collectives — Bandhanmukti, Bijoyini and Utthan in West Bengal, and Vimukti in Andhra Pradesh — from May to September-end.

Out of 236 survivors assessed for the study, 79 (33 per cent) had no income before the lockdown. Post-lockdown, the number grew to 183 (or 77.5 per cent). The 236 women include survivors of human trafficking, survivors of commercial sexual exploitation and women in sex work.

Prior to the lockdown, 65 (27 per cent) of their heads of families had no income. It rose to 206, or 87 per cent, following the lockdown.

Of the vulnerable women, 41 reported that they did not have a ration card, while 25 had lacked ration cards as well as coupons to receive free or subsidised ration during the lockdown months. Fifty-six of them said they had no access to regular ration supplied under the public distribution system.

As many as 199 women also lacked a job card. What this means is that even if government schemes such as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme reach their localities, they may not be offered any work, the study notes.

“The panchayat and block officials have not been helpful here in providing rations and aid to the people,” says Rahima Khan, who along with Mondal is part of ILFAT as well as Bandhan Mukti at their village.

A sex trafficking survivor, who was rescued from Pune in 2017, Khan has also been reaching out to other women and tried to resolve several cases of domestic violence. Many workers returned to their homes during the exodus of migrant labour from cities to villages. “Because they have had no work, many men have turned violent at home,” says the 24-year-old, who has not had a regular job since her return but has been counselling survivors.

Sex trafficking survivors, she points out, also had to contend with threats from traffickers during the lockdown. Many, like her, choose to not get married fearing future husbands may force them back into prostitution.

Khan, who had been trafficked at the age of 12, is awaiting a victim compensation that she is liable to receive from the state government. Her family, which includes six siblings, is dependent on the earnings of her father, a taxi driver who has resumed work post-lockdown.

According to National Crime Records Bureau data, 2,260 cases of human trafficking were registered last year. A total of 6,616 victims, including 2,914 children, were reported to be trafficked. This apart, 6,571 victims were rescued from the clutches of traffickers.

The study under Tafteesh reveals that 143 women had taken some loan before the lockdown, and another 106 also took loans to cope with the financial crisis that followed since March-end. The loan amount varied from as low as Rs 1,500 to Rs 430,000.

Women from Andhra Pradesh were reported to have taken hefty loans with high interest rates from private moneylenders, compared to their peers in West Bengal. At least 28 women in Andhra were at high risk of being subjected to bondage, servitude and harassment by their lenders, the study says.

A majority of the households that were taken into account have women as heads of families, says Saroj Kumar Pattnaik who is associated with Tafteesh. Many sex trafficking survivors in West Bengal had received vocational training before the lockdown, while those involved in outreach initiatives continue to receive stipends from Tafteesh.

“We cannot stop sex trade since it is a question of right to work, but we trying to ensure that at least the second generation does not have to remain in it,” says Pattnaik.