The twin evils of illegal trafficking and migration

Bangladesh must do the needful to eliminate human trafficking. The US Trafficking in Persons report 2023 released yesterday categorised Bangladesh among the Tier-2 countries meaning that these countries are still unable to fully meet the minimum standards needed to eliminate human trafficking.

The report is prepared by the US State Department and Bangladesh holds this Tier-2 position for the third consecutive year.

Countries belonging to Tier-1 are taken to be the best in terms of taking actions against human trafficking and Tier-3 being the worst.

Bangladesh must make strenuous efforts to improve its position and any negligence to stop trafficking may degrade Bangladesh to Tier-3 and in such a case Bangladesh may be deprived of development assistance from the US.

While we write on the human trafficking report on Bangladesh we sadly note that illegal migration also remains a major problem for countries. As war raged in the past decades a large number of refugees were created.

Illegal migration is still taking place. Only recently a boat carrying 700 to 750 people sank in deep waters in the central Mediterranean. The boat was journeying from Libya to Italy and the tragedy is one of the worst ever recorded in the central Mediterranean.

Based on the interviews of the survivors numbering 104, the International Organisation for Migration estimated that the vessel had at least 40 children on board the vessel. According to Save the Children, the number of children could be 100.

Whether a war refugee or a victim of human trafficking, the vulnerable people undertake the risky journey from place to place. When wars are imposed on a country unjustly, for example in Ukraine by Russia, people in hundreds and thousands lose lives and millions others get displaced.

When people find themselves in war they become desperate to save their lives or in absence of livelihood facilities in home countries people opt to travel to another country in search of a better life thus becoming victims of human trafficking.

As far as eliminating trafficking is concerned, countries including Bangladesh must adhere to the implementation of human trafficking laws through vigorous prosecution and sentencing of trafficking as well as cracking down on practices identified as contributing factors to human trafficking. But war is inhuman, and the international community must have a mechanism to save the people caught in the war.