By 
August 22nd, 2025
Alexa Sporner
Asia Team Human Rights Researcher,
Global Human Rights Defence.
Thousands of young Nepali women, man, boys and girls are trafficked to India and China yearly, mostly for forcing them being soldiers or using them for sex work. Many of them are forced into marriages in China or forced to work in the Middle East or some Western countries (The Asia Foundation, 2024).
According to ECPAT International, young girls and women are becoming victims of trafficking because they seek better opportunities due to poverty and the lack of proper education. Exploiting the vulnerability of these people, traffickers use force, violence and intimidation to control them (ECPAT, 2023).
At the end of June 2025, 32 Nepali victims were rescued from India, where they had been trafficked with the promises of a good job and better opportunities, but when they arrived they were abused and forced to work for the perpetrators (Times of India, 2025).
In recent years, the Nepali government has failed to amend its laws to adequately protect victims and prosecute the perpetrators, and the laws also fail to provide the aid for them to get compensation (The Asia Foundation, 2024). Although Nepal ratified the United Nations’ Palermo Protocol, which aims to prevent and punish human trafficking, as well as provide help to survivors, the country’s legal system is ineffective in enforcing the existing laws. Reportedly many prosecuted traffickers received a light punishment for their crimes and in some cases they had political influence and could get a bail agreement. Additionally, the laws do not provide enough protection to survivors and witnesses given that traffickers also try to silence them by death threat and violence, thus leaving them to live in fear (Joshi, Andersen, Aro, Rømer, Thapa & Karlsson, 2025).
However, in May 2025, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) reported that Nepal is proposing a new draft amendment to its laws, and starting focusing on a more survivor centered approach in battling the widespread human trafficking in the country. The draft, among others, involves a clearer definition of human smuggling, and it devotes a greater importance for sexual and labour based abuses. Additionally, the draft also allows Nepal’s Anti-Human Trafficking Bureau to conduct investigations and to rescue trafficked citizens from abroad (UNODC, 2025).
These new amendments are essential for combating human trafficking in the country, as well as for ensuring justice for the victims.
Sources and further readings:
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes – South Asia (2025, May 15) Nepal: Promoting victim-centered legal frameworks in countering human trafficking. Accessed on the 20th August 2025 <https://www.unodc.org/southasia//frontpage/2025/May/nepal_-promoting-victim-centered-legal-frameworks-in-countering-human-trafficking.html>
Rimal, S. & Simkhada, P. (2024, September 27) Nepal’s Silent Crisis: Human Trafficking Under the Spotlight. The Asia Foundation, accessed on the 20th August 2025 <https://asiafoundation.org/nepals-silent-crisis-human-trafficking-under-the-spotlight/>
ECPAT (2023) A Glimpse into Nepal’s Child Trafficking Crisis. Accessed on the 20th August 2025 <https://ecpat.org/story/a-glimpse-into-nepals-child-trafficking-crisis/#intro>
Das, K. (2025, June 23) 32 Nepal youngsters held captive in Uttarakhand rescued: Victims lured with job promises, forced into sales work; embassy, NGO, police bust human trafficking racket. Times of India, accessed on the 21st August 2025 <https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/dehradun/32-nepal-youngsters-held-captive-in-uttarakhand-rescued-victims-lured-with-job-promises-forced-into-sales-work-embassy-ngo-police-bust-human-trafficking-racket/articleshow/122016149.cms>
Joshi, R., Andersen, P. T., Aro, A. R., Rømer, M., Thapa, S. & Karlsson, L. E. (2025, July 9) Challenges and opportunities for the reintegration of sex-trafficking survivors into Nepalese communities. Global Health Action 18(1), accessed on the 21st August 2025 <https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10.1080/16549716.2025.2522489?needAccess=true>
