SEXUAL ABUSE AND EXPLOITATION OF BOYS IN SOUTH ASIA A ...

esidences with persons not related to them, obliging hotel personnel to report children
residing with non-relatives and obliging transportation personnel to report any suspected
trafficking incidents at airports or railway stations or along highways.
5.2.4.3 Trafficking for sexual exploitation
Under the ITPA legislation and its 2006 amendment, trafficking offences are registered, and
they supersede provisions in the IPC concerning the sale and purchase of minors for
prostitution, procuring a child for prostitution, importing a child from a foreign country and
kidnapping a child from legal guardianship. Many of the provisions in the IPC referred to
females to the exclusion of males, and this has been remedied in the ITPA.
The ITPA does not define child trafficking, nor is it adequately defined in other national
legislation. The provisions addressing trafficking are limited to ‘buying’, ‘selling’,
‘procuring’ and ‘importing’ for purposes of prostitution. They do not include other key
activities in the trafficking scenario, including recruitment, transportation, transfer,
harbouring or receipt of trafficked persons. The Goa Children’s Act 2003, article 2(z) is the
only piece of legislation in India that defines child trafficking in accordance with the Palermo
Protocol. The ITPA Amendment Bill, however, provides a definition of trafficking in persons
that includes most of the features of the definition in the Palermo Protocol. It also defines a
child as a person under 18, rather than 16.
5.3 Policy
India has no specific plans of action or other policy documents that directly address child
sexual abuse. However, it is addressed in other policy documents on child protection and
trafficking in persons.
In 1998, the Committee on Prostitution, Child Prostitutes and Children of Prostitutes under
the Department (now Ministry) of Women and Child Development issued a Report and Plan
of Action to Combat Trafficking and Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Women and
Children (RPOA). Following comments that prior interventions had not been as effective as
desired, the Committee presented a Plan of Action that covered prevention, awareness raising,
health services, education, housing, legal reforms and rescue and rehabilitation, among
others. The RPOA established Central and State Advisory Committees on trafficking,
comprised of members from government, NGOs and international organizations to monitor
implementation of the plan and assist in forming state plans of action on trafficking.
However, the RPOA did not address the sexual exploitation of boys in its discussion of
‘modes of initiation into sexual exploitation’, ‘extent and magnitude of trafficking and sexual
exploitation’ and ‘situation of women and child victims’, or in its recommendations. 243
Prevention activities did not address situations conducive to boys entering prostitution,
including street living, child labour and migration (‘migration’ referred to only ‘migrant
women and girls’). Nor did they address the linkages of sexual abuse in the home, community
243 Department of Women and Child Development, Republic of India, 1998, ‘Report and plan of action to
combat trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation of women and children 1998’.
79