Paper short abstract:

Exploitation of the trafficked victims in the commercial sex industry is both a cause and outcome of gender disparity. This paper tries to find out the factors and mechanism of trafficking as well as subjective perceptions of victims about their exploitation throughout the process

Paper long abstract:

In our globalizing world, human trafficking particularly trafficking of women and children

is becoming a major human rights concern. Trafficking is now a multi-billion dollar industry run by organized criminal networks. Millions of young women and girls around the world are exploited in the commercial sex industry which is often the end destination of sex trafficking. Trafficking of young women for prostitution has become a serious concern for the government officials, policy makers and human rights activists. Oppression and exploitation in the commercial sex industry is both a cause and outcome of gender disparity. It is a violence against women and it disobeys their human rights, including the right to equality, dignity, health, agony. It perpetuates the idea that women's bodies are for sale to satisfy the male demand for sex. This paper aims to find out the factors behind trafficking of young girls like poverty, illiteracy prevalence, state-of-origin, marital status and trafficking mechanisms as the study report of UNIFEM (2002) highlighted that the trafficking of women and children must be seen in a broader context of labour migration and movement of people. These movements in turn interact with structures of gender inequality at every level - national and global, in families and communities. The subjective perceptions of the victims about trafficking and their exploitation will also to be a vital concern of this study. Because the paper encourages policy makers to revisit the issue of trafficking from a gender and a rights alert development framework.