Ending human trafficking must end

I was appalled to watch a television report based on real-life story of a Bangladeshi girl who was trafficked to an Indian city. Around 50,000 Bangladeshi girls and women are trafficked reportedly to or through India every year. Human trafficking has been a trade along the indo-Bangladesh border for quite some time and both the countries need to take urgent actions so that this evil trade can no longer be carried out. Unfortunately, prostitution is a lucrative trade everywhere and it is high time we took strong steps to make sure that nobody is a victim of trafficking and discover herself at a brothel. We often read reports that Indian NGOs are working for rescuing Bangladeshi women from illegal brothel houses and sending them back. Since our society and families of the victims do not accept such women, the criminals use that as an advantage for trafficking. It is a shame that the society punishes the victims further, instead of helping them. Rather, it's the criminals, who deserve punishment but somehow management to hide their faces.

Rumana Sharmeen

Dhaka University