152ND INTERNATIONAL TRAINING COURSEPARTICIPANTS’
PAPERSPARTICIPANTS’ PAPERS

TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS IN BANGLADESH
Mohammad Barad Hossain Chowdhury*

I. Introduction
Bangladesh, a small country with a huge population, is notably affected by the organized crime called
Trafficking in Persons (TIP). According to Article 3 of the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish
Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, Supplementing the UN Convention Against Transnational
Organized Crime,1 trafficking in persons means:the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or
use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or ofa position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent
of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.
Bangladesh acts as an important source and transit country for trafficking in persons in Southern Asia.
The main domain of human trafficking is forced labour and sex trafficking. Trafficking victims of Bangladesh
consist of men, women and children. Men recruited by fraudulent employment offers for work overseas
consist of a significant share of Bangladesh's trafficking victims who are subsequently exploited underconditions of forced labour or debt bondage. Women and children are the primary constituents of sex
trafficking. The underlying dynamics of human trafficking have led to the formulation of many internationaland regional legal instruments and much national legislation. The government of Bangladesh has been
taking administrative measures to address human trafficking, especially trafficking in women and children.
Hence, the aim of this paper is to identify the overall situation of trafficking in persons in Bangladesh withthe government’s initiatives and developments on this issue. This essay portrays the current situation of
trafficking in persons in Bangladesh, the challenges, underpinning problems, government initiatives andcountry achievements. The paper concludes with recommendations to the government of possible solutions.

II. TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS IN BANGLADESH: OVERVIEW
Trafficking in persons is illegal, and it is difficult to find reliable estimates of the size of the problem.
However, various reports, such as Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports, TIP Reports of the U.S.
State Department, Bangladesh’s Country Reports, etc., reveal that it is a large and growing crime globally
as well as in Bangladesh. According to the 2012 TIP Report of the U.S. State Department,2 Bangladesh
does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making
significant efforts to do so. In February 2012, the government of Bangladesh enacted a comprehensive
anti-trafficking law which addressed legislative gaps such as the absence of a prohibition on the traffickingof men. The government also approved a new anti-trafficking action plan (2012-2014) which incorporated
necessary steps to implement the new law. The number of prosecutions increased, but the number ofconvictions declined as compared to previous years.
* Senior Assistant Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, Bangladesh Secretariat, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
1 United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, Supplementing
the UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime, 2 (2000) <http://www.uncjin.org/Documents/Conventions/dcatoc/
final_documents_2/convention_%20traff_eng.pdf> accessed 21 Nov. 2012.
2 U.S. State Department, 2012 Trafficking in Persons Report <http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/192594.pdf>
accessed 21 Nov. 2012.

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In terms of modus operandi, there are two types of trafficking in persons that occur in Bangladesh:internal trafficking and international trafficking.

A. Internal Trafficking:Bangladeshi children and adults are trafficked internally for commercial sexual exploitation, domestic
servitude, and forced and bonded labour, including forced begging. In some instances, children are sold into
bondage by their parents, while others are induced into labour or commercial sexual exploitation throughfraud and physical coercion. Girls and boys as young as eight years old are subjected to forced prostitution
within the country, living in slave-like conditions in secluded environments. Trafficking occurs throughout
the country, and the vulnerable poor are trafficked from poorer rural regions to cities.
B. International Trafficking:Internationally, women and children from Bangladesh are trafficked to India and Pakistan for commercial
sexual exploitation or forced labour. Some Rohingyan refugees from Burma have been subjected to humantrafficking in Bangladesh. Many brothel owners and pimps coerce Bangladeshi girls to take steroids to makethem more attractive to clients, with devastating side effects; the drug is reported to be used by 90 percent
of girls and women between the ages of 15 and 35 in Bangladeshi brothels. In 2012, nine South African
labour-trafficking victims were found in Bangladesh.
III. MEASURES OF PROSECUTION
The Government of Bangladesh adopted a clear anti-trafficking law, “The Human Trafficking Deterrence
and Suppression Act, 2012,” which resulted in an increased number of investigations and prosecutions.
This Act generally prohibits and punishes all forms of human trafficking, though it does not flatly prohibit
the fraudulent recruitment of labour migrants; rather, the Act requires the recruiter to have known that therecruited workers would be subject to forced labour.3 Prescribed penalties for labour trafficking offences
are 5 to 12 years’ imprisonment and a fine of not less than the rough equivalent of $600, and prescribedpenalties for sex trafficking offences range from 5 years’ imprisonment to the death sentence. These
penalties are sufficiently stringent and commensurate with those prescribed for other serious crimes, suchas rape. The new law supersedes sections of the Repression of Women and Children Act of 2000 (amended
in 2003), which had prohibited the trafficking of women and children for the purpose of commercial sexual
exploitation or involuntary servitude.

Table 1: Number of Prosecutions and Disposition of Human Trafficking Cases in 2011.
Prosecution

Disposal

Number of cases lodged

143

Number of cases disposed38

Number of accused arrested

455

Cases ended in conviction

09

Number of cases charged

70

Cases ended in acquittal

29

Final report submitted

39

Persons Convicted

14
Death sentence- Nil
Life imprisonment-08
Other terms- 06

Under investigation

34

Persons acquitted

70

Source: Bangladesh Country Report, 2011, Combating Human Trafficking, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of thePeople’s Republic of Bangladesh, pp 1-2.

The alleged complicity of some Bangladeshi government officials in human trafficking remained a serious
problem, and the government made no discernible efforts to address it. Several NGOs reported a nexus
among members of parliament, corrupt recruiting agencies, and village-level brokers and also reported
that politicians and regional gangs were involved in human trafficking. NGOs and the media reported that
registered recruitment agencies in Dhaka have links with employers and brokers in destination countries —3 Ibid.

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some of which have subjected migrant workers to trafficking — and help facilitate fraudulent recruitment.
The Government of Bangladesh did not investigate or prosecute government officials suspected oftrafficking-related complicity. Government officials continued to receive training from civil society groups
and foreign governments.

IV. MEASURES OF PROTECTION
The government of Bangladesh made limited efforts to protect victims of trafficking over time.
The government did not have a systematic procedure to identify trafficking victims among vulnerable
populations or to refer victims of trafficking to protective services. The government reported that
immigration police, working with the Ministry of Expatriate Welfare’s Vigilance Taskforce, identified
trafficking victims at international airports by checking passports and questioning potential trafficking
victims; it is not known how many victims were identified through this process. The chart below shows the
distribution of rescued/recovered victims in 2011.

Fig. 1: Distribution of Rescued/Recovered Victims in 2011.

Source: Bangladesh Country Report, 2011, Combating Human Trafficking, Ministry ofHome Affairs, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, pp 1-2.

The government identified 181 victims in 2011. Among them, 98 victims were rescued or recovered.
Ninety-six victims out of 98 were handed over to their parents. One victim was rehabilitated by an NGO(purple), and one victim was rehabilitated by the Government (light blue). While the government did notprovide funds, shelter or other services specifically dedicated to trafficking victims, it continued to run nine
homes for women and children who were victims of violence, which could be accessed by trafficking victims;
the government also ran a “one-stop crisis center” for women and children in the Dhaka general hospital— also accessible to trafficking victims. The government continued to run one shelter in the Bangladeshi
Embassy in Riyadh for female Bangladeshi domestic workers fleeing abusive employers. The government
did not compile statistics on the number of trafficking victims, if any, assisted through these establishments.
An NGO noted that adult female victims could leave the shelters in Bangladesh at will. The government
did not provide protective services to male victims of trafficking. Law enforcement personnel occasionallyencouraged victims of trafficking, when identified, to participate in investigations and prosecutions of theirtraffickers by providing transportation to courts, but there was no information on the number of victims who
did so. Some trafficking victims were detained, fined, or jailed for unlawful acts committed as a direct resultof their being trafficked. Victims were often detained when they returned to Bangladesh after migrating
irregularly to another country. Government officials detained women in prostitution without determining
whether they were trafficking victims. Female trafficking victims were placed in divisional custody facilities
at government-run prisons when no space was available in shelter homes. Unregistered Rohingyan refugees(trafficking victims) were detained indefinitely for their lack of documentation. The government did notprovide temporary or permanent residency status for these trafficking victims — the only foreign victimsof human trafficking identified in Bangladesh. When Bangladeshi migrant workers lodged complaints oflabour and recruitment violations, they most often resorted to arbitration by the Bangladesh Associationof International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA), which did not provide sufficient financial compensation andrarely addressed the illegal activities of some BAIRA-affiliated recruitment agents. NGOs and news reports

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alleged instances of officials working at some Bangladeshi embassies abroad who were mostly unresponsive
to complaints; attempts to seek restitution abroad were rare.

V. MEASURES OF PREVENTION
The Bangladeshi government has made efforts to prevent trafficking over the last several years. In
January 2012, the Ministry of Home Affairs promulgated a new National Plan of Action for Combating
Human Trafficking for 2012-2014, which includes plans to implement the new law. The Ministries of Social
Welfare, Women and Children Affairs, and Primary and Mass Education continued to raise awareness on
the trafficking of women and children. The Ministry of Expatriate Welfare’s Vigilance Task Force continued
its work to improve the oversight of Bangladesh’s labour recruiting process ahead of a future merger witha Monitoring Wing. This wing lacks the funding or professional capacity to address fraudulent recruitment.
The government continued to allow the Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies(BAIRA) to set fees, to license individual agencies, to certify workers for overseas labour, and to handle
most complaints of expatriate labourers, while exercising inadequate oversight over this consortium oflabour recruiters to ensure their practices did not facilitate debt bondage of Bangladeshi workers abroad.
The Home Secretary continued to chair the interministerial National Anti-Trafficking Committee meetings,
which met regularly. Training, including awareness about human trafficking, was provided to Bangladeshi
soldiers prior to their deployment abroad on international peacekeeping missions. During the year, thegovernment took no action to reduce the demand for commercial sex acts. Bangladesh is not a party to the2000 UN TIP Protocol.

VI. PROBLEMS UNDERPINNING TRAFFICKING IN PERSONSThe issue of trafficking is integrally linked to the insecurity of livelihoods as well as to the continuing
disparities and discrimination against marginalized communities generally, and against women in particular.
Many trafficked persons are lured and deceived by false promises of good jobs or marriage, and some arebought, abducted, kidnapped, coerced, threatened with force or placed in debt bondage. Some of these
women and children are trafficked with the tacit consent of their poverty-stricken families (NPA 2008).4
Bangladesh is one of the major sources of labour of the world with a surplus population. It has enormous
possibility to become the top foreign currency earner by sending skilled migrant workers abroad.5 But
unfortunately there are rackets working to traffic men and women both inside and outside the country
by exploiting them in the name of providing jobs either with legal or illegal documents. Unsafe andundocumented migration leads to trafficking. In recent times, many Bangladeshi potential male and femalemigrants suffered within the country before going aboard, and many also faced adverse situations abroad. In
the regional and international arenas, groups of persons are working in the migration sector to earn moremoney at any cost without considering the exploitation of the migrant workers. The major underpinnings ofthese problems are as follows:•

Overpopulation: Bangladesh is overwhelmed with its large population. This population burden has
exposed a large segment of the citizenry to the vulnerabilities of trafficking in persons.

•

Demand for cheap labour: Worldwide demand for cheap labour targets the Bangladeshi people andvery often jeopardizes them as trafficking victims.

•

Lack of opportunity and resources: Poverty exists in every part of social and economic life of the
majority of the Bangladeshi population. Combining a large population with a weak economic basemakes the resource base scarce and bottlenecks opportunities for people to lead happy lives. These
discontentments lead the people into vulnerability and towards becoming victims of trafficking inpersons.

•

Lack of awareness: Lack of proper education easily escorts the people towards hazardous lifestyles,
which ultimately ends up with the dejected outcome of human trafficking. Lack of education also
prevents the development of an awareness of human rights and causes fatal consequences.

•

Sexual services: Augmented demand for sexual services around the globe, as well as within the

4 Government of Bangladesh. National Action Plan, Ministry of Home Affairs. Dhaka: Ministry of Home Affairs (2008).

5 The economy of Bangladesh depends on remittance. Every year, the Bangladeshi economy is infused by remittances offoreign currency earned by Bangladeshi labourers abroad.

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country, makes young girls and boys vulnerable to being trafficked. Burdened with the problems ofpoverty and lack of education, Bangladeshi women and children are very vulnerable to the brutalityof sex trafficking.
•Lack of control over recruiting agencies: There are more than 1,000 recruiting agencies belonging
to the Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA). These agencies are
permitted legally to charge workers recruitment fees that are the equivalent of a year’s salary,
but these recruiting agencies often charge additional amounts in contravention of government
regulations. These exorbitant fees place migrant workers in a condition of debt bondage, inwhich they are compelled to work out of fear of otherwise incurring serious financial harm.
Many Bangladeshi migrant labourers are victims of recruitment fraud, including additional andillegal exorbitant recruitment fees often accompanied by fraudulent representation of terms of
employment. These victims may also experience restrictions on their movements, nonpayment ofwages, threats, and physical or sexual abuse.

VII. GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES
Bangladesh has taken the problem of human trafficking seriously. The Constitution of Bangladesh
mandates the establishment of a society based on the rule of law, justice, and the respect for human dignity
and the worth of all persons. The Constitution bans forced and bonded labour (Article 34), imposes a duty on
the state to prevent and suppress the prostitution of human beings, and guarantees a number of fundamental
human rights (Articles 27-44).6
The government of Bangladesh has been implementing a series of activities to combat trafficking. As
a result of the effectiveness of all committees and the motivational, preventive and awareness-building
activities against human trafficking, Bangladesh has achieved commendable success in combating trafficking
in the years 2008-11 — successes which are indeed based on earlier successes. A major anti-trafficking
initiative by the government is the drafting of the new anti-trafficking statute, which has recently culminatedin the enactment of the Human Trafficking Deterrence and Suppression Ordinance of 2011, an overview
of which follows below. Before that, the Government enacted the Domestic Violence (Protection andPrevention) Act of 2010 to address the problem of violence against women. Notably on 13 July 2011 thegovernment has in the meantime ratified the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime of
2000.7 Bangladesh has also recently ratified another ancillary international instrument, namely, the UN
Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families, 1990.
Ratification of this Convention is sure to have a positive impact on Bangladesh’s efforts to prevent andcombat human trafficking. Further, the process for the ratification of the most notable anti-trafficking
instrument, the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons 2000 (Palermo
Protocol) is currently underway. The government has also adopted three major national polices — the Policy
for the Advancement of Women of 2011, the Child Labour Elimination Policy of 2010 and the Child Rights
Policy of 2011 — all of which will have strong impacts on anti-trafficking measures generally. Specially,
the Women’s Policy of 2011 and the Child Rights Policy of 2011 categorically spell out the government’s
commitment to eradicate trafficking in women and children.
Other noteworthy anti-trafficking initiatives and achievements of the government and other implementing
partners are:

A. Setting up of National and District Committees
Anti-trafficking activities in Bangladesh have received a major boost with the formation of aninterministerial committee at the national level headed by the Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs(MoHA) and committees in each District headed by Deputy Commissioners to monitor matters at districtlevels. Also, there are anti-trafficking committees at the upazilla (sub-districts) and Union levels.
B. Setting up of Monitoring Cells
Another major device was the setting up of a monitoring cell at the Police Headquarters (and in each
6 The Constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh (1972).

7 Although Bangladesh has adopted the 2000 Convention, it still has not adopted the TIP Protocol.

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District) to monitor anti-trafficking actions, specifically the prosecution of human trafficking. Initially, theCell focused on trafficking in women and children, and now its terms of reference include measures against
all forms of human trafficking, including the prevention of trafficking, rescue and rehabilitation of traffickedpersons and day-to-day development of the criminal cases related to human trafficking.

C. Continued Awareness-Raising Programmes
The Government of Bangladesh has sponsored awareness-raising activities at national and district levels
and a series of specialist trainings imparted to government officials, police officials (including investigatorsand immigration officers), lawyers, judges, social service officials, and public prosecutors.
D. Taskforce for Rescue, Recovery, Repatriation and Integration (RRRI) of Trafficked Women andChildren
A Taskforce for the rescue, recovery, repatriation and reintegration of children and women victims/
survivors of trafficking has been established at the MoHA. The initial mandate of the Taskforce — to workfor the rescue, recovery, repatriation, and integration of child victims of trafficking — has been extended tocover victims of all types of human trafficking.
E. Standard Operating Procedure for Repatriation of Trafficked Child Victims between Bangladesh
and India
The Ministry of Home Affairs and UNICEF have jointly developed a Standard Operational Procedure(SOP) to be followed by law enforcement agencies, development practitioners or rights activists receiving
and sending child victims. This SOP provides for eight different forms or information sheets which are
to be used in the identification of child victims and their rescue, repatriation and integration. Broadly, the
SOP provides for a normative and practical framework for the identification and rescue of victims, for theentry of data regarding their particulars, for placement of victims and the collection of information, forsharing of information among the taskforces, administrative processes, permission for repatriation, physicalrepatriation itself, and the reception of the repatriated victims. Also, a website has been designed and put inplace for the activities of the RRRI Taskforce.
F. Reporting Trafficking Situation Annually
Every year, a country report is prepared and published by the MoHA, which details actions by thegovernmental, non-governmental and intergovernmental implementing organizations on the prevention ofhuman trafficking and the protection of its victims, including the successes made so far.
G. Vigilant Task Force at the Ministry of Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment (MoEWOE)
This Taskforce was established to monitor the activities of recruiting agencies so that irregular/fraudulent
recruiting for overseas employment may be stopped. This institutional device is expected to check and reduce
human trafficking for labour under the garb of migration.
H. Legal Reforms
A number of efforts for the reform of the legal framework are currently underway. The Ministry ofExpatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment is currently revising the Emigration Ordinance 1982 to makeit more effective against fraudulent and criminal recruitment of people for the purpose of labour. MoHA isalso currently working to revise the laws relating to immigration into Bangladesh. These legal interventions
are expected to further consolidate the legal tools available in the fight against trafficking.
I. Increased Prosecution/Convictions and a Criminal Database
During the past several years, the number of arrests, prosecutions, and convictions of traffickers has
increased. This may be attributed, among other factors, to the consistent monitoring of the progress ofthe most serious criminal cases of trafficking. Also, the Police Authority has developed a criminal databasewhich is based on integrated software with information about crimes, prosecution, and criminals and withadditional information on trafficked victims.
J. Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the Investigation of Crimes
An SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) for the investigation of trafficking cases has been put into effect.

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The SOP is expected to help the investigators effectively investigate crimes.

K. Bilateral Agreements
Bangladesh has recently entered into Agreements with India with a view to providing mutual legal
assistance in criminal matters and to combat organized crime and trafficking in drugs. Specifically, thegovernment of Bangladesh has concluded the following agreements with India:(i) The Agreement for Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters;(ii) Agreement Between the Government of Bangladesh and the Government of India for Combating
Terrorism, Transnational Organized Crimes, and Illegal Drug Trafficking; and(iii) Agreement for the Transfer of Sentenced Persons (Except those sentenced with capital
punishment).
Needless to say, human trafficking is one of the most heinous types of organized crime, and therefore thesepacts — particularly the first two pacts — will facilitate cooperation between Bangladesh and India forcombating human trafficking.

VIII. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Bangladesh has made significant improvements in dealing with trafficking in persons. This paper recommends
that the government of Bangladesh:••increase efforts to prosecute trafficking cases and convict trafficking offenders, and use the newtrafficking law to prosecute fraudulent labour recruiters;
become a party to the 2000 UN TIP Protocol;take steps to address the allegations concerning the complicity of public officials in trafficking,particularly through criminal prosecution and punishment of those involved in or abetting humantrafficking;improve oversight of Bangladesh’s international recruiting agencies to ensure they are not promoting
practices that contribute to labour trafficking;reduce exorbitant legal recruitment fees, per the Vigilance Task Force’s mandate;
expand the roles and responsibilities of existing labour attachés in destination countries to includeanti-trafficking monitoring, reporting, and engagement with destination countries;
provide support services for adult male trafficking victims and victims of forced labour; and•work with civil society to improve anti-trafficking messaging through awareness campaigns.

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•
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