India placed on US special watch list

"The government of India does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so," noted the sixth annual Department of State Trafficking in Persons Report released by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Monday.

India, it said, is a source, destination, and transit country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of forced or bonded labour and commercial sexual exploitation.

India is also a destination for women and girls from Nepal and Bangladesh trafficked for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation. In addition, boys from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh are trafficked through India to the Gulf States for involuntary servitude as child camel jockeys.

India's neighbours -- Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh -- have been placed a cut above it in Tier two for although all three did not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, they were, in US assessment, making significant efforts to do so.

India lacks a national law enforcement response to any form of trafficking, but took some preliminary measures to create a central law enforcement unit to do so, said the report, which the US intends to use as a diplomatic tool to raise global awareness and spur countries to take effective actions to counter trafficking in persons.