10 August 2020, NIICE Commentary 5798
Sumitra Karki
Like rest of the world, South Asia has not been spared by the COVID-19 public health and economic crisis. Three of the eight most populated countries in the world are located in South Asia. With a high share of its population living on limited subsistence resources or in extreme poverty, with no access to public assistance, the COVID-19 shock could have dramatic social consequences in the region. The first country to report a confirmed case in South Asia was Nepal which was registered on 24 January, in a man who had returned from China on 5 January.
In the face of the pandemic and to prevent poor healthcare systems, the countries have implemented multiple containment measures like lockdowns, curfews, quarantines, social distancing, travel restrictions, etc., which have almost halted or at least severely disrupted economic activities in the region. The recent steps to re-open economies are fueling a rise in cases and risk overwhelming health and governance systems. The COVID-19 shock will affect South Asia for some time through various channels; one is decreasing workers’ remittances, as they account for a large share of revenues for the majority of countries. The economy is struggling to take off again and mass unemployment and income losses are skyrocketing to the highest level.
Uncertainty remains not only in the economic sector but the pandemic could lead to increase in social inequalities, political instability, a potential food and humanitarian crisis and millions more people plunging into poverty, increase in criminal activities, human trafficking etc. All these consequences are an explosive social cocktail that South Asian governments will face in the future.
This socio-economic crisis could result in political instability that could weaken the popularity of incumbent leaders. This is the case in the Maldives and Pakistan, and potentially also in Bangladesh, where the longstanding ruling party could be confronted with a resurgent opposition and social unrest in the hard-hit crucial garment sector. In Nepal as well, Youth-led protests such as “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH took place. The protestors called into question the government’s response to COVID-19 and demanded accounts for Rs 10 billion (Nepali currency) that the government is reported to have spent in the fight against the pandemic.
The crisis has also heightened the societal gap and further increased the structural problems, including religious, caste, and ethnic divisions, ineffective communication amid compounding challenges, how governments respond to the pandemic with having a lasting impact on the region’s stability and the future of its nearly two billion citizens. South Asia is the most-illiterate, the most malnourished, fast emerging as the poorest, the least gender sensitive, the most deprived region in the world. Those without jobs and savings are solely dependent on the government’s relief packages and the kindness of strangers. Hence it is more likely for people to be pushed to pursue criminal activities like pick pocketing, robbery, kidnapping, smuggling and even human trafficking.
South Asian Countries and Human Trafficking
Human Trafficking in South Asia is not a new occurrence. It is an old phenomenon, but it has recently been recognized as a global concern as trafficked persons are found in a growing number of countries. Even under normal circumstances, identifying victims of human trafficking is a difficult task. Nevertheless, the current pandemic is making the situation even more difficult. On 11 June, France-headquartered Interpol said –“Migrant smuggling incidents involving Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh to Malaysia by sea have increased threefold from March to April 2020.” It means travel and movement restrictions are not stopping the movement of people fleeing conflict, human rights abuses, violence and dangerous living conditions, while the economic consequences of the pandemic are likely to lead to an increase in smuggling of migrants and trafficking in person flows from the most affected countries to more affluent destinations. Trafficking in South Asia is complex and multifaceted, both a development and a criminal justice problem. The main destination of people from South Asia is the Middle East but many stay within India and Pakistan.
In South Asia women and girls, Dalit community, migrant workers, lesbian/gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community, other religious and ethnic minorities and refugees, are in particular facing a greater risk of being trafficked from this pandemic. This can be attributed to the systematic suppressions due to poverty, violence, inequality, and marginalization. According to United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) on Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation, “71 percent of all trafficking victims worldwide are women and girls and three out of four trafficked women and girls are sexually exploited” and South Asia is not an exceptional concerning this.
The outbreak is exposing the most vulnerable to risks of sexual exploitation, while current victims of human trafficking are at higher risks of being further abused and exploited. The impact of the current crisis is particularly strong on women and girls who are generally earning less, saving less and are more involved in the informal economy, which makes them more vulnerable to exploitation. It also pushed thousands of migrant’s workers out of work. Many are hoping to be rejoining through government evacuation missions but bringing migrant workers home is a heavy burden to the countries that sent them back. As a matter of fact, they have little choice as false information are being used by human traffickers to deceive and convince people with desperate need of employment to use their services.
How to help Prevent
South Asian countries have yet to take effective measures aligned with human rights standards to safeguard their people, particularly the vulnerable and the marginalized. South Asian governments should strengthen legal and social protection pathways for victims of labour (child, forced) exploitation. Facilitating the access to justice for victims of trafficking and exploitation could be the way of preventing trafficking. States should guarantee the extension of projects in support to victims of trafficking to avoid protection gaps and risks of re-victimization. Non-governmental organizations should raise awareness with donors on the increased needs to fund trafficking prevention and response in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The core of the anti-trafficking regimes is protection of borders by controlling the flow of illegal migration. Poverty and unemployment is the major feature of the South Asian Countries and has always been identified as one of the factors that leave people more vulnerable to trafficking, hence, government should execute a genuine plan for poverty alleviation and upraise the employment ratio of the country to minimize trafficking. There are many initiatives being undertaken to address trafficking in human beings in South Asia to prevent and address child trafficking. All the countries in the region are members of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and have signed two of its conventions, one aimed at preventing and combating trafficking of women and children in prostitution; the other promoting the welfare of children.
No country or region is immune from Human Trafficking. There is no short-cut to this problem. South Asian countries should continue on what it has been doing in the past to combat trafficking and at the same time also adopt long-term sustained policies to mitigate COVID-19 as well as human trafficking.
