Noting that the conviction rate, investigations, prosecutions and convictions in India were "disproportionately low" relative to the scale of human trafficking, the US has continued to place the country in 'Tier 2' of its annual report on trade of humans.
The US State Department in its annual Trafficking in Persons Report for 2018 urged India to increase prosecutions and convictions for all forms of trafficking, including forced and bonded labour, and of officials allegedly complicit in it.
"The government of India does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, however, it is making significant efforts to do so. The government demonstrated increasing efforts compared to the previous reporting period, therefore India remained on Tier 2," the department said.
Tier-2 suggests that the government of the country does not fully meet the TVPA's minimum standards, but is making significant efforts to bring itself into compliance with those standards.
It also noted that the government's inter-ministerial committee in 2017 to discuss and revise a draft anti-trafficking bill and India's border guard force along its Nepal border conducted several awareness activities on human trafficking for students and border communities.
As reported over the past five years, the State Department said India is a source, destination, and transit country for men, women and children subjected to forced labour and sex trafficking.
Most of India's trafficking problem is internal and those from the most disadvantaged social strata -- lowest caste Dalits, members of tribal communities, religious minorities, and women and girls from excluded groups -- are most vulnerable according to the report.
"Workers within India who mine for sand are potentially vulnerable to human trafficking. Thousands of unregulated work placement agencies reportedly lure adults and children under false promises of employment into sex trafficking or forced labour, including domestic servitude," the report stated.
"In addition to traditional red light districts, women and children increasingly endure sex trafficking in small hotels, vehicles, huts, and private residences. Traffickers increasingly use websites, mobile applications," the report said.
Since 2011, India has remained at Tier-2 of the State Department reports on human trafficking.
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