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Bangladesh moves up in US ranking on human trafficking

FM says the world recognises government's efforts


Published : 27 Jun 2020 12:29 AM | Updated : 06 Sep 2020 01:56 AM

The United States has upgraded Bangladesh’s position in its ‘trafficking in persons’ report which is being seen as an ‘acknowledgement’ of the government’s anti-trafficking efforts.

“The world has recognised our efforts,” Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen said on Friday in a video message hours after the State Department’s report released in Washington.

The report upgraded Bangladesh’s position to Tier 2 from the Tier-2 Watch List. One notch slip from the Watch List could be devastating.

Dr Momen said this elevation was ‘significant’ for Bangladesh as otherwise the US would have suspended non-humanitarian USAID activities in Bangladesh.

He said this was possible due to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s ‘zero tolerance policy’ against human trafficking and concerted efforts of all ministries and agencies concerned.

According to the report styled ‘Trafficking in Persons’ , the Bangladesh government demonstrated overall increasing efforts compared to the previous reporting period; therefore, Bangladesh was upgraded to Tier 2.

Afghanistan remained to be a Tier-3 country in the list for the region which kept Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Maldives in “Tier-2 watch list”, a status one grade below the Tier-2. India and Nepal secured the equal status of Bangladesh.

“Bangladesh government does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so,” said the 20th edition of the report.

Bangladesh was put under ‘Tire-2 Watch List’ in the last year’s ranking.

The report particularly lauded the government’s anti-trafficking campaign exposing human traffickers to punitive legal actions setting up seven special tribunals under a tough anti-trafficking law and identifying the victims, acceding to the 2000 UN TIP Protocol.

The foreign minister said this development came due to the “combined effort” of his office and the ministries of homes, law and expatriate welfare under a national action plan for 2018-2020 against human trafficking.

He appreciated the law enforcement and security agencies for their tough anti-trafficking campaign to expose traffickers to justice in designated courts set up for the purpose alone.

He said the law ministry had set up seven tribunals for this purpose.

The courts had dealt with 403 anti-trafficking cases and of them 312 were prosecuted convicting 25 people last year, he said.

The expatriate welfare ministry suspended licenses of 162 recruiting agencies for breaching laws to prevent trafficking.

He said the foreign and social welfare ministries set up shelter centers for the trafficking victims while civil society and different NGOs had worked along with the government in curbing illegal migration simultaneously.

The foreign minister, however, urged all to form strong opinions against the traffickers in the society so that Bangladesh can win this battle against the traffickers.

“We have a long way to go. We are a victorious nation. We’ll win surely,” he said, urging all to identify the traffickers and the agencies that are sending people abroad illegally and boycott them socially.

He also stressed on boosting the image as human trafficking issues bring “bad fame” for any country.

“Help the government. We want to stop human trafficking - child trafficking and women trafficking. We can't do it without your support,” he urged all.

The US state department report said Bangladesh identified 585 potential trafficking victims, an increase from 419 in the previous reporting period but still much lower than the 770 victims identified in 2017.

The report also observed that Bangladesh continued to allow employers to charge high recruitment fees to migrant workers and did not enforce a continued vigil against illegally operating recruitment sub-agents, which left workers vulnerable to traffickers.

It said Bangladesh modestly increased the number of victims identified but maintained severely inadequate victim protection, especially for trafficking victims identified overseas.

The report, however, appreciated Bangladesh police for operating multiple centers for women and child victims of violence, including trafficking, in each of the country’s eight divisions that offered short-term shelter, medical, and psychological care.

The foreign minister said Bangladesh would continue to spearhead its campaign against trafficking as “we would like to change the negative perception (against Bangladesh) at home and abroad”.