US Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000

 US Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000

JAN 30, 2003

 Key elements of trafficking

 Engineering- institution building/ tasking, and policy making

 Empowerment- education, awareness, economic programs- reduce opportunities

 Enforcement and Prosecution- sensitization/ training/ capacity building- police are more diverted to the law and order problem rather than trafficking.

 We need to have special programs for this special problem. We ought to have programs for prevention, empowerment, containment, and prosecution.

 They all require-

 Team building/ concerted efforts/ participative approach

Resources

 Regional and international cooperation is required for

 Information/database

• Legal assistance
• Interception and intervention
• Arrests
• Repatriation
• Rescue and recovery
• Investigation- evidence collection- mens rea and actus reus pieces of evidence. It is difficult to prove the crimes that are committed in Mumbai.
• Transit/ treatment centers

 Therefore, there is a need for SAARCPOL/ SAPATH

 The two existing laws on trafficking have many loopholes and bottlenecks. The Muluki Ain is more motive-focused. It emphasizes proving the mensrea (motive).

 Migration is not trafficking

 ration for better economic opportunities should not be mistaken for trafficking. The eventualities and consequences of the uprooted family members and forced displaced persons must be taken care of. We may not know how many of them have already fallen to the dragnet of traffickers.

The Draft Committee prepared a draft of the human trafficking law for Nepal

 The committee took reference of laws of India, Bangladesh, Thailand, Philippines, ILO, and international standards set by the Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women (GAATW) and many other related international conventions on the issue of women and children during the exercise. The draft was again discussed in the open forum on Friday, 30 July 2001. The present form of the draft can be said to be a good law. It aims to respect and protect the rights of victims.

The main features of the new draft legislation were drafted by a committee, which was chaired by DIGP Govind Prasad Thapa

 The legislation has been drafted keeping in view the international human rights instruments and formally recognized international norms as far as possible.

 The legislation aims to protect the rights of trafficked persons by providing them with an effective legal remedy, legal protection, non-discriminatory treatment, compensation, and recovery.

 The definition covers "all acts and attempted acts in the recruitment, transportation within or across borders, purchase, sale, transfer, receipt or harboring of a person involving the use of deception, coercion (including the use of threat of force or the abuse of authority) or debt bondage to place or hold such person, whether for pay or not, in involuntary servitude (domestic, sexual or reproductive), in forced or bonded labor, or in slavery-like conditions".

 The new legislation protects the rights for privacy, dignity, and safety of victims. Methods of investigation, detection, gathering, and interpretation of evidence will be done with minimum intrusion, so that the methods do not degrade the victims or reflect gender bias.

 The identity of victims and history are kept secret and not made public. The case is investigated in a camera court with limited persons in the new law.

  Prosecution for sexual and other forms of assaults before, during, and after trafficking has been included.

 The new law protects the legal rights of trafficked persons for reparations from traffickers as well as assistance in bringing such actions, a temporary resident visa (as provided by Immigration Law).

 The new law provides trafficked persons with adequate health and other social services during the period of temporary residence (during prosecution).

 The new law criminalizes forced pregnancy.

 The new act also provides immunity from prosecution to women victims who, in the process of rescuing themselves, may kill an offender in self-defense.

 The new act provides special provisions for the prevention and investigation of trafficking.

 The new act criminalizes pedophiles.

 The act addresses the rights of the victim by ensuring that the burden of proof to and during any prosecution of a person alleged to be guilty of trafficking lies with the prosecution and not with the trafficked person.

 The legislation also confiscates all assets of convicted traffickers and disburses such assets in payments of all court orders for compensation to victims.

 The new legislation also addresses the issues of child sexual exploitation.

 The new legislation prohibits sex tourism activities.

 The legislation recognizes that trafficked persons are victims of serious human rights abuses, and protects their rights notwithstanding any irregular immigration status

 The new law puts a bar to render a convicted person unqualified or ineligible for any public or government positions.

 The new law also fulfills a need to raise funds to compensate victims.

 The new law has made provision for a National Coordinating Committee to coordinate and monitor programs against trafficking.

 I know that this draft has a long way to go. It has not been adopted as a law by the parliament. The Ministry of Women and Social Welfare has also developed a new draft with changes in our draft here and there. There is great pressure from the opposition party and the general public in Nepal and other NGOs to pass the law in the upcoming parliamentary session.