Khulna division tops in human trafficking

News Desk :
The residents of the Khulna division had fallen victim to human trafficking more than the people in other parts of the country in 2020, according to the Global Report on Trafficking in Persons 2022.
The conviction rate of traffickers in Bangladesh is the lowest among the neighbouring South Asian countries, said the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC) while unveiling the Bangladesh section of the report at a Dhaka hotel on Thursday, told the media.
Presenting the key parts of the report, Mahdy Hassan, national programme coordinator at UNODC South Asia, said, the highest number of trafficking cases in 2020 were recorded in Khulna’s four districts – 3.68% were logged in Jhenaidah, 3.35% in Narail, 1.38% in Khulna, and 1.26% in Jashore.
Apart from Khulna, 2.98% of cases were recorded in Fridpur, 2.36 in Manikganj, 2.25 in Shariatpur, 2.09% in Habiganj, 2.07% in Brahmanbaria, 1.46% in Madaripur and 1.08% in Narshindi.
There were no districts from northern Rajshahi and southern Barishal Division in the top ten trafficking-prone areas.
“Climate change is also emerging as a root cause of trafficking,” Mahdy Hassan said, reading out the report.
“People living in poverty are more vulnerable to be victimised by traffickers promising better opportunities for income generation within Bangladesh and the region, in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, North America and Europe,” he said.
And the victims are being exploited and languishing in forced labour, ship-breaking industry, sex exploitation, domestic servitude, organ removal, forced marriage, forced crime and begging, Mahdy said.
The reports also mentioned that the judges and prosecutors related to the human trafficking cases believed that a large number of filed cases were wrongly filed as many officers at police stations and courts conflate trafficking in persons with other offences such as sexual abuse.
According to the report, one judge assessed that a significant share of trafficking cases would not be able to stand trial. “When prosecuting cases, it was often challenging to ensure physical evidence as some victims were illiterate and had no evidence of their exploitation,” the report mentioned, quoting the judge as saying.