South Asia has emerged as the hub of human trafficking, especially the trafficking of children. It is a source, destination and transit area. Poverty, illiteracy, regional imbalances, lack of good governance in certain regions, absence of strong legislations and effective enforcement, large-scale corruption in the border areas, demand for cheap labour, social exclusion and disparity makes this region trafficking prone. Although there is no comprehensive study on the extent of the problem, according to an UNICEF estimate, at least 50,000 children are trafficked from Nepal and another 40,000 children are trafficked from Bangladesh via the state of Bihar in India alone.
Published in 2007
