NGOs seek 'wider' consultation on draft trafficking bill

As Women and Child Development Ministry's consultative process on its draft Trafficking of Persons Bill concluded on June 30, several NGOs have dubbed the proposed legislation as "vague and full of loopholes" and sought "better, wider, deeper consultation" on it.
The National Coalition to Protect Our Children (NCPOC), an umbrella organisation comprising several NGOs working in the field, has while offering its comments on the draft bill emphasised on the need for more discussion. They have slammed the draft bill for being "vague and full of loopholes".
The letter written by Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrashekhar, who is also a member of NCPOC, says, "The bill suffers from several legislative and procedural flaws." Several other NGOs who have separately written to the Ministry, too, echo the same sentiment.

Nearly all NGOs have questioned how a draft meant to become a legislation on trafficking does not even define the term "trafficking".
Founder Secretary of Prayas, an NGO for Child Rights, Amod Kanth says, "Commercial sex, forced labour, organ trade, illegal adoption, forced child labour- all of these should have been brought directly under the definition of trafficking but a basic definition is missing."
According to several activists who have written to the Ministry, the draft creates confusion about the existing law on trafficking--Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act (ITPA).

"One does not know whether the Bill is in addition to ITPA or a replacement of ITPA. If (it is )a replacement of ITPA, the provisions of ITPA must find a place in the Bill," reads the submission to the Ministry made by HAQ: Centre for Child Rights.

According to Rajeev Chandrashekhar, "ITPA has stricter penalties than the current draft bill. So, does it mean we are now going to let off offenders lightly? What message does this bill then send to traffickers?"
Many contend how another law, Juvenile Justice Act, 2015, has stronger provisions for rehabilitation of trafficked children than the new draft bill and therefore there is a need for cross-references to be made to the JJ Act. However, the chapters on rehabilitation in the draft do not mention JJ Act at all.
"The mechanisms within JJ Act are very good. It has a powerful infrastructure, which comprises four different kinds of homes, which can be used for victims of human trafficking. It has Child Welfare Committee, Juvenile Justice Board, Child Protection Unit and Special Junvenile Police Unit...

Therefore, another section of the Bill that talks about
its powers to override every other law has drawn huge criticism. "If this bill was meant to be comprehensive, then why isn't there any reference to other laws, like the JJ Act and ITPA," says Bharati Ali, Co-Founder of HAQ.
Objections have been raised about how the draft Bill plans to raise funds. Chapter XII, Section 29 mentions that "Government will create a fund" and adds that "voluntary donations and contributions" may, too, be made by individuals and organisations.
"This does not work. We have had experiences with the Juvenile Justice Fund, where there has been a provision for a fund since 1986 and ever since no state has been able to work on this fund because the finance secretaries in each state will say how can you accept donations in a public fund. These nitty gritties have not been looked into," says Bharati Ali.

According to Amod Kanth the draft bill doesn't deal with investigating trafficking in great detail. "What is needed is a complete chapter instead of 3-4 lines. We have suggested the need for a body at the national level to deal with human trafficking, which can also centrally collect data on cases of trafficking."
Both Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrashekhar and Bharti Ali say there is a need for separate legislations on trafficking of women and of children instead of clubbing them in the same bill.
"My fundamental problem is that WCD tends to club trafficking of children and trafficking of women in the same bucket and tends to look at it as one omnibus crime. My entire contention as a lawmaker is that crimes against children is a very different kind of crime and the sensitivity and the thoroughness of law and consultation has to be separated from that for women," says Chandrashekhar.

However, amidst all the criticism there is some praise too in so far as the bill seeks to expand the definition of trafficking beyond commercial sex or prostitution.
"There is a big change. Now, there is a paradigm shift. ITPA mostly dealt with prostitution but this bill attempts to move beyond that and seeks to bring within it different kinds of forced labour as well," says Amod Kanth.