Trafficking of women and children
Thursday, 19 June 2008
ALTHOUGH human beings today are supposed to enjoy greater physical security compared to ages gone by, the ground realities tell a different story. Greater recognition of human rights and enforcement of the same, granting of voting rights to previously disenfranchised people, legislation to end slavery etc., have internationally created an environment that discourages such oppression of human beings. But the prohibitions are in many cases getting hoodwinked and the human slavery continues in different forms. Thus, human trafficking worldwide is noted as a grave violation of the rights and dignity of humans and the situation in this regard is so worrying that the United Nations has had to recognize this as an universal problem requiring national and international responses to the same.
Startling disclosures were made by the home affairs adviser while speaking at the inauguration of a special unit of the Bangladesh police formed to monitor and deal with human trafficking. The unit has been specially raised, equipped and trained abroad with assistance from the European Union (EU), to help Bangladesh build up capacities to cope with human trafficking. It could not have come sooner for what the adviser said on the occasion comes as a national disgrace. According to official statistics stated by him, 50 Bangladeshi girls on average get trafficked across the Indo-Bangladesh borders every day. Most of them eventually end up in Indian and Pakistani brothels. Thus, nearly 400,000 Bangladeshi women are estimated to be leading a trapped life in the brothels of the neighbouring countries. They were sold there by their traffickers and remain doomed to a life of forced prostitution. The adviser also informed that 300,000 Bangladeshi boys have been so far trafficked outside the country. Some of them were sent to Arab countries to be used as camel jockeys that would put great risks on their lives. Others were used for unlawful adoption while many others got allegedly killed in the process of clandestine medical experiments or dismemberment of their body parts to supply the recipients of such organs. The traffickers make billions from their abominable operations.
The very shocking unraveling of facts about the extent of human trafficking from Bangladesh ought to trouble the conscience of all sensitive persons within and outside the country. The response should include greater efforts on the part of the government here to get the cooperation of law enforcement personnel in neighbouring countries to crack down on the traffickers. Of course, all out endeavour should be made to smash the networks of the gangs within Bangladesh. But the networks will need to be dismantled both here and in other countries. Only then a sustainable decline in the trafficking can be expected. Regular publicity also needs to be intensified in the mass media so that people's consciousness about the heinous crimes can be raised effectively and their cooperation in catching the gangs can be obtained enthusiastically. One may contend that extreme poverty and deprivation make the words of the traffickers appealing in the ears of the victims or members of their families. But social and economic conditions are much worse in many countries of the world compared to Bangladesh. But these countries do not suffer greater than Bangladesh on this score. Thus, the issue of human trafficking in Bangladesh needs to be identified and acted upon largely as a law enforcement problem and the barriers to it must be made stronger by toughening law enforcement operations in this area. Furthermore, publicities and building public opinion against it as a reprehensible crime, will also likely prove to be useful.
Startling disclosures were made by the home affairs adviser while speaking at the inauguration of a special unit of the Bangladesh police formed to monitor and deal with human trafficking. The unit has been specially raised, equipped and trained abroad with assistance from the European Union (EU), to help Bangladesh build up capacities to cope with human trafficking. It could not have come sooner for what the adviser said on the occasion comes as a national disgrace. According to official statistics stated by him, 50 Bangladeshi girls on average get trafficked across the Indo-Bangladesh borders every day. Most of them eventually end up in Indian and Pakistani brothels. Thus, nearly 400,000 Bangladeshi women are estimated to be leading a trapped life in the brothels of the neighbouring countries. They were sold there by their traffickers and remain doomed to a life of forced prostitution. The adviser also informed that 300,000 Bangladeshi boys have been so far trafficked outside the country. Some of them were sent to Arab countries to be used as camel jockeys that would put great risks on their lives. Others were used for unlawful adoption while many others got allegedly killed in the process of clandestine medical experiments or dismemberment of their body parts to supply the recipients of such organs. The traffickers make billions from their abominable operations.
The very shocking unraveling of facts about the extent of human trafficking from Bangladesh ought to trouble the conscience of all sensitive persons within and outside the country. The response should include greater efforts on the part of the government here to get the cooperation of law enforcement personnel in neighbouring countries to crack down on the traffickers. Of course, all out endeavour should be made to smash the networks of the gangs within Bangladesh. But the networks will need to be dismantled both here and in other countries. Only then a sustainable decline in the trafficking can be expected. Regular publicity also needs to be intensified in the mass media so that people's consciousness about the heinous crimes can be raised effectively and their cooperation in catching the gangs can be obtained enthusiastically. One may contend that extreme poverty and deprivation make the words of the traffickers appealing in the ears of the victims or members of their families. But social and economic conditions are much worse in many countries of the world compared to Bangladesh. But these countries do not suffer greater than Bangladesh on this score. Thus, the issue of human trafficking in Bangladesh needs to be identified and acted upon largely as a law enforcement problem and the barriers to it must be made stronger by toughening law enforcement operations in this area. Furthermore, publicities and building public opinion against it as a reprehensible crime, will also likely prove to be useful.