ECONOMIC REHABILITATION
Trafficking into CSE is an ultimate exploitation that shatters the victim thoroughly and at times permanently. The damage is irreversible. It is the responsibility of the state and the civil society to make every effort to help the victim live a dignified life and participate in the mainstream society like any other individual. Developing countries cannot afford to look after the physical and economic needs of a victim for ever.

Such permanent support may prove counter productive too. After helping the victims recover from the immediate and traumatizing effects of the incidence it is important to focus on the long term stabilization of the victim. First and foremost objective on this path is to make the victim economically self reliant

SOCIAL REINTEGRATION
While achieving the goal of economic rehabilitation of the victim efforts must be made to make sure that the victim gets back into the mainstream society. She ceases to be recognized by her identity as a victim. She also must cease to face any handicaps and stigma and discrimination emanating out her being a victim for CSE&T in her life.

On one hand the society much be changed through legal measures against stigma and discrimination as well as through persuasive measures like awareness, education and sensitization. On the other hand the victim must be equipped counseling and training to face adverse and at times hostile social environment. This is a great step towards social reintegration.

PROSECUTION
CSE&T is increasingly linked with organized crime. Vulnerable optionless innocent persons are exploited by the agents of CSE&T for their own gains. Searches and rescue may free them from an exploitative situation and place them in a set up that can protect her and help her heal faster. That should not be the end of search and rescue. The guilty must be punished. Prosecution of the accused and punishment to the guilty is an important aspect of the state social intervention.

One of the strong factors which has contributed substantially to the rise in CSE&T is the complete lack of fear of legal consequences. The crime statistics also supports this observation.

Effective prosecution doe not only establish justice but also fulfills a strong preventive purpose by sending a deterrent message to the prospective offenders.

Unfortunately, the members of enforcement agencies have several incentives offered by the world of crime for not enforcing the law but little offered by the state of the civil society for implementing the law in text and spirit. Similarly, there are no negative consequences for the members of enforcement agencies for having not enforced the anti trafficking law. The Indian prosecution operates on a principle which treat the accused as innocent till proven guilty by the due process of law as a result at every step there is a special advantage to the accused but little to the victim of crime. The burden of proof also lies mostly on the prosecution.

All these factors make prosecution a very difficult task and it requires great efforts to facilitate prosecution.

REPATRIATION
A trafficked person is usually moved away from his support system and placed for exploitative activity in a place which is physically far away and alien. This ensures that the victim would not get any local sympathy or support.

On rescue it is naturally expected that the victim should have a chance to get back to its own support system which may include her family, neighbourhood, community, and state, or country as the case may be. This must be recognized as aright of the victim.

At inter country level where immigration laws exist and procedures are to be followed repatriation of trafficked victims is a complicated and agonizing as well as dangerous process. Take the example of India and Bangladesh. In absence of properly developed procedures proper repatriation is almost impossible. Trafficked victims are still considered as illegal immigrants and hence deported. The deportation procedure is extremely crude and has no regards to the possibility that the victim could get re trafficked as a result of deportation through Push procedures observed at the national boundary.

There are people who believe that no trafficked victim should be forcibly repatriated, it should be optional for the victim. From country to country the position of the states on this point varies.

Repatriation is not limited to inter country level. Within a vast country like India inter state trafficking being largest proper repatriation at inter state level is needed the most. No legal procedures need to be drafted for this purpose. Proper networking could meet this requirement.

Whether inter country or intra country repatriation the activists are more vocal about not repatriating the victim forcibly and r making repatriation optional for the victim. This position is often at odds with the position of the state which is fraught with a huge problem of unauthorized aliens and illegal migrants.

Surprisingly, activists have not yet recognized it as a right of the trafficked victim that the victim must be able to go back to her family, neighbourhood, community, state and country. The victim would have theoretically otherwise enjoyed several claims on the family property, and other citizenship rights including her cultural rights had the victim not been trafficked. It is important that all her such rights must be established and her, neighbourhood, community, state and country must be made to make up for their failures. The original country and state find this position of the activists very suitable as they don't have to take any responsibility towards the victim. The victim often being a girl or woman it fits into their predominantly patriarchal culture to deny her right to property and other citizenship benefits.

In an alien country the victim could get some rehabilitation benefits and a temporary residency status but that cannot make up for e what she has lost and what she can rightfully reclaim, her place in her own country, state and community regardless of the fact if those formations welcome it or not.

HIV/AIDS
The problem of CSE&T and HIV/AIDS are closely and undoubtedly interconnected. It is the position of most of the anti trafficking groups in India that the rise of HIV infection in India cannot be curbed without checking CSE&T. This approach and position is receiving little support from the state or international organizations engaged in HIV/AIDS.

Ironically however, people working in the field of HIV/AIDS under the apex leadership of NACO have focused on HIV at the gross neglect of the problem of CSE&T. The victims as well as the perpetrators of the CSE&T crime have been involved by these bodies in facilitating the protection of the health of the customer to the flesh trade. The failures of this approach are stark and self evident.

The anti trafficking organizations in India have been one of the earliest to address the problem of HIV/AIDS among the downtrodden and deprived sections of the society.

Prerana is perhaps the first organization that provided care and support to the HIV/AIDS affected (including infected) women and children from the red light areas at a time when the medical doctors from the government hospitals were reluctant to touch a person suspected to be from the red light are with the fear of HIV.

REFORMS
Reforms are required at all the above mentioned levels.

Bi Lateral/ multilateral Agreements:

Except for the convention against trafficking passed during the SAARC meet in 2002 at Kathmandu Nepal there has been little work done in the direction of any bilateral agreement to address several issues in the broader issue of inter country CSE&T.

The voluntary sector agencies of Bangladesh and India once came together to evolve a draft of bi lateral agreement for the victims of trafficking and HIV. The draft is to be submitted to the respective states for consideration.

Legislation: The Suppression of Immoral Traffic Act commonly called SITA was passed in 1956. It was revised in 1986. Although the 1986 revision was a major revision it is now perceived as inadequate and toothless and a need has been expressed for a fresh revision of the central legislation. Certain preliminary processes in this direction such as nationwide consultation etc have been completed and a draft report has been r prepared by the National Commission for Women. The Report is supposed to be submitted to the Government of India which will in turn place it before the parliament.

Policy: The first Indian policy announced in 1998 by the Government of India with its Plan of Action recognizes the pioneering role of Prerana in developing several innovative measures of intervention in the situation of trafficked victim women and children and the children of trafficked women. The POA 1998 adopted most of the programmatic measures pioneered and standardized by India. The policy and the POA 1998 is a comprehensive document. Like any other excellent piece of policy evolved by the Indian rulers this too has remained on paper with little implementation.

Programmes: As stated above the POA 1998 of GOI adopted most of the programmatic measures pioneered and standardized by India but did not initiate them. It declared that the GOI would support such programmes if proposed by the voluntary sector agencies. In reality little such support was given.

In the year 2002 however the GOI declared a scheme named Swadhar and in some states supported the activities of the voluntary sector agencies. In states like India however the centre only supported the project proposal of the state government at the neglect of the proposals of the voluntary sector agencies.

Administration: State administration plays a crucial role in all stages of anti CSE&T work. In most areas it is fraught with inefficiency, corruption, malpractices, lapses, insensitivity, and lack of accountability. It is alien to professionalism although it is increasingly employing professionals. It is stranger to the concept of participation although it is burdened with committees. Several reforms are necessary in the state administration if the anti CSE&T work has to become effective and successful.

The governments whether at the central or at state level have been making little efforts for administrative reforms.

Most of the reforms have been undertaken under pressures from the judiciary or representations from the voluntary sector organizations

e.g. The ITP Act 1986 has a provision to appoint a Trafficking Police officer at the national level but no such appointment was made. It was Prerana which made representations at the highest level of the administration in the state and as a result the CBI Central Bureau of Investigation has been appointed in the year 2003 as the TPO under the ITP Act.

While under the pressure of the Supreme Court in a case pending before the Court the central government formed constituted a central Advisory Committee to look into the problems of trafficking of children and women.

The state advisory Committees provided under the ITP Act were never constituted in any state. Under the pressure from the judiciary and due to the representations by the voluntary sector agencies they are now being constituted in some states.

In a Writ Petition filed by Prerana in 1999 under the directives of the Mumbai High Court the Govt. of Maharashtra has constituted a Guidance & Monitoring Committee to supervise the functioning of the Special Rescue Home for Rescued Minor Girls in Mumbai.

ADVOCACY & LOBBYING
Those who have vested interests in CSE&T are well connected and financially strong. They are forcefully trying to get the flesh trade legalized. When they are not asking for legalization of the trade they are keen on getting themselves decriminalized.

The term legalization which unfailingly evokes a supportive reaction among the people no matter in what context it is applied and the misunderstanding it creates is largely responsible for the lack of learned opposition to the idea.

The state on the other hand more particularly the health departments are very keen on getting the trade somehow or the other licensed. The major justification given by these departments/ authorities u is to curb the spread of HIV infection by subjecting the prostituted women to compulsory periodic medical testing for HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.

Paradoxically, this patently unscientific, illogical, impractical, immoral, and irresponsible proposal catches the attention and gets the instant support of people which includes not only the laymen. The power of the terms medical testing, legalization etc plays the magic.

Organizations engaged in anti CSE&T work oppose the ideas of legalization, licensing as well as compulsory periodic medical testing and argue that t exactly the opposite effect will take place with these measures.

The criminals who run the business are tired of living under the theoretical feat of legal consequences and practical day to day extortion by the enforcement personnel and want that their actions should not be viewed as criminals i.e. their actions should be decriminalized.

SENSITIZATION & TRAINING
No reforms in legislation and policies will serve any purpose if the existing laws, policies, and programmes are not implemented. While there are many factors responsible for the non implementation of laws, policies, and programmes lack of motivation, insensitivity, and lack of specific training about the issue are prominent among them.

Sensitization of the various public functionaries who can address the issue of CSE&T is a potent activity and gives positive results.

Starting from the top level officers to the field based constables in the police machinery, the magistrates of the Juvenile Justice Board to Judges at the apex courts, lawyers, prosecutors, social workers, media persons, officers of state agencies engaged in post rescue work, elected representatives, there is hardly any category that does not need sensitization and training.

It is a general experience of voluntary agencies engaged in anti CSE&T work that Sensitization & Training on CSE&T gives good results.

It was the effort of Prerana to make the trainee feel the CSE&T problem as his own problem.

Rather than focusing on exposing the persons undergoing S&T to their official duties and telling them what the government and law expected of them attempts were made to get the persons perceive the CSE&T problem as one inevitably and seriously affecting him/her personally as a ma member of family, country, a social being, an employee, and a human being

SOCIAL AWARENESS
Sensitization & Training Programmes involve structural arrangements in terms of time and space and presuppose considerable coordination of activities of many players including the performers and the viewers. Awareness material that can serve the purposes of Information, Education, and Communication by themselves are indispensable in any mission. They reach out to many unknown persons and give a standardized message.

Awareness material in terms of posters, hoardings, stickers, audio cassettes, TV spots, leaflets, booklets, ads in the newspapers, have been found to be very important

They contain deterrent warnings for offenders, information on available help for the potential and actual victims, messages to alert vulnerable persons, appeals to the conscience of the elites, appeals to the laity to join in, all have been people etc.

NETWORKING & NETWORKS
There goes a saying: When bad people conspire good people must unite. In the anti CSE&T field the saying is: When traffickers conspire good people must network.

The CSE&T is a transnational organized activity. Often the traffickers are far more swift, and efficient than the anti trafficking interventionists. It is no more a matter of choice whether to network.

From prevention to repatriation, and from rescue to rehabilitation networking has a special role to play.

Networking is not mere addition of the strength of the individual members of the network but it is a formation over and above all its individual members.

RESEARCH & DOCUMENTATION

No field of intervention can be effective unless it has a back up of research and documentation.

In India a number of empirical studies have been conducted on prostitution. The field of trafficking comparatively remained neglected or was mistaken for prostitution and was attempted to be covered under the same name.

The study of the League of Nations conducted in 1930s was one of the first landmark study that covered British India and made specific comments on trafficking. Subsequent pioneer and prominent among them was the study of prostitution in Bombay by Dr. Punekar and Dr. Rao was a comprehensive study. Several studies followed this study]

Prerana was assigned the responsibility for coordinating the Bombay chapter of the study of prostitution in 6 metropolises taken up by Central Social Welfare Board in 1991. Prerana covered the stages from data collection to report writing for the Bombay chapter. Prerana was not responsible for deciding the research questions, conceptual framework, or research design or tools. The Joint Women's Project Delhi brought out a study on the Devadasi form of prostitution. In the decade of 1990 to 2000 national Commission for Women sponsored several area studies on prostitution.

Most of the empirical studies were socio economic surveys of victim women in prostitution. Sociological case studies on prostitution were exceptional but were once again focused on Devadasi system.

Prerana has devoted a special wing for research and documentation. The activity was never academically oriented but attempted to serve the needs of the interventionists and policy makers. Research and documentation work was undertaken for UNICEF, National Commission for Women, UNDP, CSWB etc.