India, Sept. 23 -- The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has issued a pointed reminder to every State and Union Territory: human trafficking is not a low-level street crime, and it is not only a crime against women and girls.

In the advisory concerning the countering of trafficking in persons, the MHA has instructed the police, labour departments and field officers to regard trafficking as organised exploitation which knows no distinction regarding gender, industry or geography and to apply the new criminal codes with sufficient rigor to target the financiers and organisers who benefit from it.

The message is direct and clear: identification protocols need to cover all genders and every industry at risk of exploitation. This is not just a ...