Table 4 Factors contributing to increased vulnerability to trafficking for CSE

Economic factors

• Poverty: families unable to meet basic needs, female-headed households, families without any assets (e.g., due to long term unemployment, under-employment, sudden economic shocks), indebted families from poor states (e.g., Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Orissa, Rajasthan, Assam, etc.) [2, 3, 7, 8, 10]

• Unemployment and migration. Lack of employment opportunities, particularly in rural areas, force individuals or families to migrate to seemingly better places and make them more vulnerable to trafficking (e.g., Orissa, Bihar) [2, 3, 7, 8, 10, 27]

• Income disparities between rural and urban areas, combined with a desire for a better life[3, 7, 8, 10]

• Growth of tourism in specific areas (e.g., Goa, Kerala, Rajasthan) [19, 20]

• Trafficking for CSE has proven to be a low risk and highly lucrative business [3, 7, 8]

• Globalisation (e.g., Bata has undermined the Regar community in Rajasthan when it started selling shoes in India, as well as recent macro-level agricultural reforms) [28, 29]

Environmental factors (resulting in long-term lack of sustainable livelihood) [2, 3, 7, 8]

• Drought (e.g., Rajasthan)

• Cyclones (e.g., in The Sundarbans in Bangladesh) and floods

• The 2004 tsunami (e.g., coastal Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, & Orissa were particularly affected)

• The closure of sick tea gardens and subsequent layoffs around Darjeeling in West Bengal has resulted in starvation deaths, the suicides of women and children, and women and children being forced into exploitative forms of work and trafficking[30]

Social/cultural factors [2, 3, 7, 8, 10, 12]

• Tolerance of domestic violence and lack of respect for human rights, particularly women's and children's rights, which push victims to opt out of particularly abusive situations without economic recourses [31]

• Caste-related discrimination that deprives specific groups (e.g., scheduled castes such as the Dalits) of their basic rights (e.g., access to water or medical care) [32]

• Customary prostitution (see Figure 1).

• Arranged/coerced early marriages & dowries (Figure 1)

• Gender discrimination (women seen as a burden on families; low education levels for females, and few or no economic opportunities for females).

• Victimization and stigmatization of divorced, abandoned, and raped women and girls, and/or women and girls who are illegal immigrants in India (e.g., Nepalese and Bangladeshi)

• Beliefs that sex with virgins will cure STDs and sexual dysfunctions.

Governance issues [2, 3, 7, 8, 12]

• Wars, civil conflicts, strong presence of armed forces, drug trafficking (Nepalese women and girls are fleeing Nepal to avoid Maoist pressures to join military training or be recruited as child soldiers; Indian States bordering Myanmar: Manipur, Nagaland, and Mizoram) [26]

• Insufficient pro-poor policies and initiatives

• Laws which ignore exploitation of children by their own families

• Unsafe migration, porous borders (between Nepal and Indian and between Bangladesh and India) [33]

• Legislation and enforcement procedures that are inadequate to deter trafficking and bring traffickers to justice, coupled with corruption (see second section: corruption index) [34]

Micro/familial factors [2, 3, 7, 8, 10]

• Females from indebted, poverty stricken families

• Single women (unmarried, abandoned, divorced, widowed, rape victims) with or without children

• Adolescent girls/children, particularly children from families where abuse/neglect is prevalent or families in crisis (caused by war, civil unrest, or environmental catastrophes)

• Female migrants, alone or with families

• Females coerced into early marriage (frequent in Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Jharkhand, Bihar, Orissa, and Assam)

• Children of trafficked victims

• Street children (e.g., Goa, Kerala)