A Criminological Study on the Nature of Human Trafficking in Sri Lanka

Abstract

“Human Trafficking” means the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Millions of men, women and children are victims of human trafficking for sexual, forced labor and other forms of exploitation worldwide. The main objective of the study was to investigate the nature of the human trafficking in Sri Lankan context. A purposive sample consisted 100 human trafficking victims selected through recorded complaints of Central Investigation Department (CID) were interviewed by using semi structured questionnaire. Results revealed that all were victims of “external human trafficking”. Majority of the sample (More than 75%) were victims of “forced labour” and they have been exploited in Singapore, Malaysia. Sri Lankan girls and women have been victims of “sexual exploitation” in Thailand and they were guaranteed to offer nursing and household works. Although there is a trend of Child trafficking it is not reported in Sri Lanka. Individuals with foreign agents were the traffickers and different victims of the same trafficker could be recognized. Unemployment, culture, short term hedonism, poverty and unawareness can be recognized as the main factors of creating “trafficking trends” in Sri Lanka. Legal empowerment and governmental intervention towards the foreign employment can be recommended as the preventive methodologies