Human trafficking and beyond

Emigration of human beings from one state to another is as old as the civilisation itself. In olden days men used to migrate in groups to different places in search of food and shelter. While the intention behind such emigration remains the same, there has been a slight change in attitude. Today it is the temptation of a better life that drives men out towards unknown destinations and under unfamiliar horde of people. That is how human trafficking occurs.
A $32 billion-a-year business, human trafficking is the world's fastest growing criminal enterprise, according to the U.S. State Department. Human trafficking is the trade of humans, most commonly for the purpose of sexual slavery, forced labour or commercial sexual exploitation for the trafficker or others. This may encompass providing a spouse in the context of forced marriage, or the extraction of organs or tissues, including for surrogacy and ova removal. Human trafficking can occur within a country or trans-nationally. Human trafficking is a crime against the person because of the violation of the victim's rights of movement through coercion and because of their commercial exploitation. Human trafficking is the trade in people, and does not necessarily involve the movement of the person from one place to another.
An estimated 27 million people are victims of the crime, which involves being forced to perform labour or commercial sex acts. Crisis around manpower smuggling has intensified in south East Asia. Newspaper columns are crowded with heart-rending and nerve-shattering stories of oppression on migrants stranded on high seas, their subhuman life and immeasurable sufferings. These people are at times at war among themselves for survival. Trawlers carrying them may exhaust stock of food and drinking water. About a hundred people are reported to have died recently while fighting with one another for food. There can not be anything more tragic than this.  
A report was commissioned by the Qatar government in the wake of the international outcry that followed the Guardian's investigation into the plight of migrant workers in the Gulf state. The comprehensive report was not formally published, but human rights groups say they have been told by the government that it plans to implement the recommendations in full.
Recently, many dead bodies were recovered from mass graves of immigrants in Thailand and Malaysia that included many Bangladeshi nationals. Now, the question that arises legitimately is whether our emigration laws are adequate enough to safeguard the rights of cheated migrants and ensure justice for them and tough punishment for the dishonest traders.       
In Bangladesh, Emigration Law 2013 was formulated for employment abroad, to introduce safe and legal immigration for them, to ensure the rights and welfare of the immigrant workers and their family members. The law replaced Emigration Ordinance, 1982. But the new law has so far proved inadequate to ensure legal rights of the immigrants although their interests were nicely protected under the law. It has happened so not because of any weakness in the law, but due to factors other than legal.
Although different durations of punishments are clearly prescribed in the seventh chapter of 'Foreign Employment and emigration Law 2013' to ensure the legal rights of the immigrant workers, the law has a number of limitations and drawbacks.
Under the law, offences have been split in four categories, such as, cognizable, non-bailable and irreconcilable; and non-cognizable, bailable and reconcilable. If someone violates a clause for which no penalty has been specifically prescribed in the law, he will be liable to six months' imprisonment or a fine up to Tk.50,000 or both according to clause-35 of the law.  
The phenomenon of people being smuggled out of Bangladesh is not a new one. It has been happening over the years. Until recently, human trafficking meant trafficking of girls only. Men and women are being trafficked to different parts of the world, including Europe and America. But in course of their illegal migration, many of them are detained by law enforcers and put into imprisonment. Some of them even die during their journey on seas as has happened recently to illegal migrants being transported to Malaysia and Thailand.
There are instances where people migrate not for a better life, but for survival. Rohingyas of Myanmar, for example, are resorting to illegal migration as they are not recognised as Myanmar nationals by their government and are being deprived of minimum rights of citizenship. They are being treated as refugees in their own country.  
Nature of human trafficking is comparable to slave trade of ancient times. It is estimated that there are 29.8 million modern-day slaves who were actually trafficked from different countries of Asia and Africa. And bondage in some form exists in most countries, including the United States, Canada, Japan and Western European nations.
Although other countries have a greater proportion of their population in bondage, India has by far the largest number, an estimated 13.9 million people. That is more than four times that of the No. 2 country, China, with 2.9 million. Pakistan ranked third, with 2.1 million.
Human trafficking has assumed more ominous proportions than drug trafficking. It is taking the shape of a global issue. Happily, the international community has risen to the occasion and some countries are showing positive signs particularly due to a tough stand of the United Nations on trafficking issue.
The UN will have to sustain this attitude and the media will have to be agile. International human rights organisations, including IOM (International Organisation for Migration), will have to continue effective action programmes in bringing those responsible under law. At the same time, the Unites Nations will have to provide rehabilitation for those who will be recovered from the unscrupulous human traffickers. Side by side, existing laws of the countries involved will have to be tightened. And this is how the world will get closer to putting an end to the crime.
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