The United States’ Department of State addresses global human trafficking in its annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report, holding India accountable for the steps it is taking to reduce trafficking. The 2021 TIP Report recognized the link between trafficking and gendercide in India, stating that girls and women were “being sold or coerced into forced marriages in states with low female-to-male gender ratios.” However, the State Department did not further recognize gendercide as the root of trafficking. Since then, it has not further addressed India’s low sex ratios and the resulting trafficking. Because female gendercide leads to trafficking, focusing only on trafficking is futile.
US officials need to know that you care about girls and women in India and that you want the US to take action to stop both gendercide and trafficking.