Fighting human trafficking -

Human trafficking is increasing alarmingly around the world The victims of this crime are predominantly women and girls. Forced labour is also a common element in human trafficking. What is more worrying is that many victims of trafficking are children. This should not be allowed to continue. And as human beings, we cannot let this be a part of today's world. Like other countries in the world, Bangladesh has suffered a lot due to this crime. The first national study on human trafficking conducted jointly by UNODC, European Union and Bangladesh government shows that most of the people who are victims of human trafficking are extremely poor and they are mainly from five districts of Rangpur region, Bandarban, Kishoreganj, Magura and Jamalpur.
Human trafficking is the world's third largest criminal activity after drug and arms trafficking. And the first two crimes are often associated with human trafficking. It is now the fastest growing activity of international criminal gangs. Many people in Bangladesh try to migrate to relatively developed countries in the hope of living a better life. But for this, many of our young men, desperate to settle in European countries, are drowning in the Mediterranean Sea, dying in the desert heat and even being tortured brutally by the international human trafficking and other criminal gangs. Many of our youths believe if they can reach any country of Europe at any cost, their life will drastically change. Taking advantage of this, human trafficking rackets target our unemployed young men and allure them into taking risky journeys to go to their dream countries illegally.
Eradicating human trafficking in Bangladesh is not easy as traffickers change their strategies every now and then. Our government has already taken some steps but those are not sufficient. The authorities concerned should take necessary steps to curb this crime. Awareness campaigns and training programmes should be launched in the country so that no one tries to go abroad through illegal channels.

Ashikujaman Syed,
Research Assistant,
Bioinformatics Research Lab,
Center for Research Innovation and Development (CRID).
syedashikujaman@yahoo.com