My Christmas wish: Stop trafficking in persons

It is also this sense of togetherness, that has persuaded me, to ponder today, about the regrettable negative aspect of human trafficking that splits families and cause such distress.

Monitoring and combating trafficking in persons has been one of the important tasks of the international community. Numerous NGOs and civil society representatives have taken it upon themselves to heighten public awareness about the crimes of human trafficking. This interest has grown out of the belief that such a practice traps people into lives of servitude and misery.

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The seriousness of this situation was brought home to me the other day in a seminar that dealt with the degrading consequences of such trafficking. Most of the cases dealt with the unfortunate experiences of several expatriate Bangladeshis who have since returned to their homes after ordeals abroad. They narrated how they had paid exorbitant fees to middle-men and subsequently, to their horror, found themselves in difficult situations.

Some people arrived abroad believing that they would have legitimate jobs as housekeepers or nannies, but ended up practically as domestic 'slaves' unable to leave their homes. Others had been tricked and ended up in forced, commercial, sexual exploitation. Quite a few also narrated how they went abroad believing that they would earn money working on a farm, but instead found themselves working to pay off their inflated 'debt' from 'travel costs'. Some had in fact worked months and years on end while the traffickers kept their earnings.

These revelations prompted me to carefully scrutinise the 'Trafficking in Persons Report' that has been released recently by the US Department of State. It was not a pleasant read.

The country narratives related to South Asia depicted a region where basic rights were mostly denied to women and children. It also underlined how this area exploited women and children for the purposes of sexual exploitation and illegal labour.

It was disappointing to see that Bangladesh has been identified as being part of Tier 2 Watch List in keeping with President George Bush's Presidential Determination No. 2004-46 of September 10, 2004. The rest of South Asia-Afghanistan, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Nepal have all been branded as being in the same category. This was disturbing, but better than being in Tier 3 to which we had been relegated (because of our insignificant efforts to prosecute traffickers and address the complicity of government officials in trafficking). Thank God for small mercies.

The Report has alleged that 'Bangladesh is a country of origin and transit for women and children trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation, involuntary domestic servitude, and debt bondage'. It has also pointed out that an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 women and girls are trafficked annually to India, Pakistan, Bahrain, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. It has also been suggested that a smaller number of women and girls are trafficked through Bangladesh from Myanmar to India. These allegations are of course supplemented by reports that many Bangladeshi boys are trafficked into the UAE and Qatar and forced to work there as camel jockeys and beggars.

The scenario assumes greater seriousness, given the fact that, many civil society representatives have also reported women and children from rural areas in Bangladesh being trafficked to urban centers for commercial sexual exploitation and poorly paid domestic work.

Social activists within the country are critical of the approach being taken by the Bangladesh government and its efforts to eliminate trafficking. Many in Bangladesh and abroad, are worried about the Government's inability to tackle this problem effectively. Despite claims to the contrary, the Administration's efforts appear to have stagnated. There has been some progress in the area of building public awareness and prevention, but that has been inadequate.

Civil society representatives have recently pointed out that about 50 per cent of trafficking in Bangladesh takes place through 28 Districts adjacent of Bangladesh-India border. However, all trafficked women and children are not sent abroad. Trafficking also takes place within the country.

Several reports have also appeared in the media that law and order officials/personnel, particularly in the upazilas on the border, have been involved directly or indirectly in facilitating trafficking of women and children. Lack of strick action against them has only reflected absence of political will.

It is true that the government faces significant resource constraints, but that cannot be an excuse. It receives 'considerable international assistance, some of which could be used to attack corruption' among the law and order representatives responsible for this area of governance. This can take place if the government decides to attach priority for protecting trafficking victims or prosecuting their exploiters.

The government's efforts have led to 72 arrests of suspected traffickers in 2003 -- an increase from 60 arrests made the previous year. Convictions however declined from 30 in 2002 to 17 in 2003. These statistics lack credibility.

Since June 14 this year some movement has taken place. The police has taken limited initiative in pursuing trafficking investigations. This has led to the arrest of 47 persons on trafficking charges and the rescue of 102 trafficking victims. The government has also established a police anti-trafficking in persons unit and appointed a coordinator for all trafficking prosecutions. These steps have generated some enthusiasm but action on the ground still remains thin. Only three public officials hve been arrested for complicity in trafficking crimes. Their prosecutions are now being prepared. This is an improvement of sorts but hardly enough.

One is constrained to point out, that if trafficking is really continuing on the scale reported, then either the government is not adequately monitoring its borders or corruption among border guards is a major obstacle to anti-trafficking progress.

Politicians of all parties love to refer to this distressful situation but action on the ground has been far from satisfactory. This is particularly exasperating, given the fact that successive governments in Bangladesh, since 1991, have been headed by ladies.

Modest initiatives have been undertaken by the Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs since early this year. They have undertaken an inter-ministeral effort to raise awareness of trafficking and other forms of violence against women. This Ministry has also established 'one-stop' crisis centres in two hospitals for female victims of violence, including trafficking victims. This is however far from enough. The government, as yet, does not offer shelter to trafficking victims. They refer such victims to NGOs such as the Bangladesh Women Lawyers Association for shelter, medical care and counselling. The government also does not provide witness protection in trafficking prosecutions.

We have to wake up. We also have to regain our credibility. We need to make sincere efforts to meet minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking.

Several steps could be taken in this regard. Police and immigration officials in border districts need to coordinate their functions with local civil society representatives to give wider coverage to their activities. NGOs should also be given greater resources to raise public awareness in this regard, particularly among those who are vulnerable to trafficking.

We should access to the experiences of India and Sri Lanka. It might be effective to replicate their law enforcement efforts against trafficking through the introduction of a computerised system that expands the data base related to suspected traffickers. We may, as in Maharashtra, India, also establish a Guidance and Monitoring Committee for state-run juvenile homes enabling them to be co-managed by social welfare and anti-trafficking NGOs.

Our government also needs to set up rehabilitation camps which can offer medical and counselling services for victims of internal trafficking. The government may consider in this regard the assigning of special welfare officers in our Missions in India, Pakistan and the Gulf to help victims of trafficking.

The relevant authtrities also need to be aware of the possible use of the internet as a medium by traffickers. At this point of time it might be limited. Nevertheless, steps need to be taken to ensure that this facility is not misused to target women and girls for prostitution, for contacting clients and exchanging promographic images and videos. The Ministry of Women and Children Affairs might think that this is still not so important in Bangladesh given the kind of people who use the internet. This assumption, I am afraid is wrong. Exploitation of such a medium to further wrong interests cannot be ruled out and needs to be taken seriously.

The only way to eliminate this misery and eradicate this problem is to expand public-private partnerships. This could be the government's New Year resolution.

Muhammad Zamir is a former Secretary and Ambassador (any response tomzamir@dhaka.net