Trafficking into forced prostitution victimizes more children in India than anywhere else in the world. Though trafficking is explicitly prohibited in the Indian constitution as well as other aspects of Indian law, enforcement has been weak due to the limitations of the country’s overburdened judicial system. The result is massive trafficking of children and women, both within India and across its borders.

South Asia is home also to the world’s largest population of slaves. The substantive laws in India outlawing forced labor are especially clear. However, slavery and forced labor remain deeply entrenched systemic problems. The primary factor that allows slavery to persist is a fractured public justice system lacking the capacity to extend the protections of the law to exploited slaves. Other factors that can increase vulnerability to slavery for victims include the disempowering social structures of dowry, poor credit access and inadequate social security. The forced labor system is present in many industries, but whether it is in a brick kiln, rice mill, salt mine or another industry, perpetrators who violate Indian laws to compel the labor of others infringe upon citizens’ most fundamental rights.

IJM’s four India field offices work to combat slavery and forced prostitution, bringing freedom and restoration to victims and ensuring that perpetrators are prosecuted for their crimes.