Demonetisation impacted human trafficking in India: Activist

New Delhi Sep. 15 (IANS): Demonetisation deprived human traffickers of their cash stockpile and thus helped in the reduction of women trafficking in the country, an activist said on Friday.

Sunita Krishnan, co-founder of Prajwala, a Hyderabad-based NGO that rescues victims of sex slavery, said the government’s November 8 decision to spike large currency notes complicated human trafficking supply chain that resulted in a “drastic reduction in the number of sex buyers”.

She said reductions of up to 90 per cent in the number of women and girls being admitted in shelter homes occurred during the couple of months after the money recall move.

It deprived “criminal groups, including traffickers, of their cash stockpiles. The dearth of customers for human traffickers and sex workers meant it obviously did not make any sense to induct any new girls in this period”, Krishnan said while participating in an interactive session with FICCI Ladies Organisation (FLO) here.

She said she had been rescuing women from traffickers for more than two decades and it was the first time “I saw the entire flesh trade so badly affected”.

FICCI Ladies Organisation (FLO), business ladies wing of trade body FICCI, had organised the session as part of its initiative to showcase women achievers breaking through challenges and playing the role of inspirational role model for women around the globe.