Plan to combat human trafficking

Arafat Ara | Published: May 06, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

Expatriates welfare ministry will draw up a work plan to combat human trafficking from Bangladesh.
The move came following recent unearthing of mass graves of illegal job seekers in Thailand.
Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment (EWOE) minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain said they are considering making a work plan to combat human trafficking which will be discussed in the next meeting of cabinet committee on law and order.
The committee will chalk out a detailed work plan to help root out the human trafficking from the country.
"I already proposed the home affairs ministry to keep human trafficking issue in the agenda of the next meeting," he also said.
If necessary the government will consider special squad like industrial police or others force to prevent human trafficking, he mentioned.
The minister said such illegal migration and human trafficking will create negative impact on Malaysian job market as no country wants to allow irregular migration.
If the number of illegal migrants is more than that of legal ones the market will be closed again and it will also bring a negative impact in the international market.
The relation between two countries will also be affected, he said.
The incident which happened in Thailand is very alarming and will have to be stopped at any cost, he added.
The Thai authorities discovered a mass grave recently. In October last year, around 100 Bangladeshi nationals were recovered from a coastal forest in Thailand. The people were promised well-paid jobs by the smugglers.
About state to state manpower recruitment system, the minister said the process is very transparent.
But the people still are falling prey to dishonest manpower recruiters and traffickers, he added.
Mr Hossain said in absence of proper documents, many victims are unable to file cases against dishonest manpower recruiters under Overseas Employment and Migration Act 2013.
More than 4000 Bangladeshi overseas job seekers, only from Sirajganj district, travelled to Malaysia by sea route last year, said a Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU) report. Of them, 400 migrants have remained missing while going to Malaysia by trawlers.
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