Poster #46 - CRIMEATE: A Climate-Crime Framework to Predict Human Trafficking Vulnerability

• In Event: ASC Poster Session I

Abstract

In the last couple of years, over 100,000 women and 50,000 children were reported missing in West Bengal, a coastal state in eastern India—many remain untraced. In climate-vulnerable regions like the Sundarbans, repeated cyclones and tidal floods have led to widespread displacement and deepened socio-economic distress. These silent disruptions are increasingly being exploited by human traffickers—yet there is no predictive system in place.
This poster introduces CRIMEATE- a portmanteau of climate and crime, a proposed interdisciplinary framework to anticipate human trafficking risk by linking climate data, migration indicators, and socio-demographic stress. The project envisions an AI- and GIS-supported system capable of issuing alerts to frontline actors such as NGOs, disaster managers, and Anti-Human Trafficking Units (AHTUs).The study spans six ecologically fragile zones across India, including drought-affected Marathwada, heatwave-prone Delhi, and landslide-hit tribal districts in the south. CRIMEATE translates climate stressors into predictive trafficking alerts, offering real-time tools for AHTUs, NGOs, and disaster response teams. Rooted in survivor narratives and empirical data, this tool repositions human trafficking as a disaster governance issue.
CRIMEATE offers a replicable model for Global South nations facing similar risks—and a critical shift from rescue to prevention in the fight against modern exploitation.

Authors

• Ameenul Abdullah Kozhithara Shameer, Karunya Institute of Technology and Sciences, India

• Beulah Shekhar, Karunya Institute of Technology and Sciences, India