Linkages of HIV/AIDS and Trafficking

By Rajesh Khongbantabam *

The issue of trafficking has long been ignored and as such there is no adequate available data in the field. Such lack of information causes limitation to explore the issue widely to establish a possible magnitude of the issue in the state.

From a recent study it has been able to establish that there is an existing clandestine networking in trafficking of women and children in the state and outside the state. But still the magnitude of the issue, with regard to exploration was handicapped due to the limitations on the aspect of the assessment.

As the epidemic spread wiser, the linkage between trafficking and HIV/AIDS is emerging stronger with Asia recording the fastest growing rate of new infection.

The nexus of poverty, HIV/AIDS and the trafficking of young women and children within the country is creating ever widening circle of insecurity that disproportionately threaten the life of young people and further impoverish the poor through sickness, lost of livelihood and rejection by society.

Moving beyond the narrow epidemiological profile of the HIV/AIDS epidemic within the state and examining the broader socio-economic and development causes, an integral connection is evident between HIV/AIDS, gender and trafficking through the nexus of vulnerability and sexual violence. Trafficked women and girls represent the most vulnerable category as far as HIV/AIDS is concerned.

From a recent study conducted by PHI (a research-based organization) under UNDP, the respondents were assessed on whether they had experienced any form of sexual abuse while they were held captive.

To this, nearly half of the respondents (47.1%) had experienced sexual abuse as young as when they were below 14 years of age. This kind of sexual harassment enables different physical harms including bleeding at the genitals, squeezed hand, bruises on the faces etc.

The respondents were also analyzed to measure the knowledge level on HIV/AIDS. The respondents who were able to give three or more than three correct answers to questions of routes of HIV transmission were considered as "having complete knowledge"; and those who were able to give less than three correct answers were considered as having "incomplete knowledge". 53.2% of the respondents have complete knowledge about routes of HIV transmission and the remaining 46.8% of the respondents have incomplete knowledge.

The representative sample also shows that only 63.6% out of the total respondents had tested for HIV. When they are further inquired whether they were willing to share their test result, it was found that 14.3% of the respondents who were tested for HIV were found to be positive, 33.6% of the respondents are negative and 52.1% of the respondents do not know their HIV status.

Further it may also be noted that the remaining 36.7% of the respondents are yet to test their blood for HIV. Hence their sero-status remains unknown.

Thus, through a brief discussion pertaining to all the above facts, there is high apprehension with regard to vulnerability of HIV infection among these trafficking victims.

Vulnerability factors in trafficking are complex, covering a wide range of individual, organisational and political perspectives as to the causes of trafficking and determining a wide range of potential interventions.

The danger of identifying the vulnerability factors is in its simplification. No single vulnerability factor at a macro level (such as poverty or displacement by conflict) gives rise to placing a person in a lower level vulnerability situation that, when combined with an even lower level vulnerability factor such as lack of protective persons or personal inability to resist male influence and aggression can result in a trafficking episode.

Besides, the identification of vulnerability factors alone as a foundation for designing intervention programmes in Manipur and Nagaland is limited. Unfortunately, for that matter in the whole of the north-eastern states of India there is no investigation/research on trafficking so far and that definite data/s and information’s are non-available.

As stated earlier, with regard to the peculiarity and the mode of operation of the victims of trafficking in Manipur, it is almost impossible to determine their routes of trafficking and their destination points. Most of the trafficked persons are deported to big hotels at Imphal, Churachandpur and Moreh