Internal trafficking within Bangladesh worrying: UN expert

Internal trafficking within Bangladesh worrying: UN expert

The United Nations special rapporteur on trafficking in persons, Siobhan Mullally, said on Wednesday that internal trafficking within Bangladesh for all purposes of exploitation, including forced labour, begging, and sexual abuses, was a matter of serious concern.

She said that girls and boys were becoming victims of such internal trafficking, allegedly due to a lack of access to protection from the state.

‘It is also worrying that girls and women are becoming victims of cross-border sexual exploitation after being trafficked to India in particular,’ the UN special rapporteur on trafficking in persons said at a press conference in Dhaka city, concluding her 10-day visit to Bangladesh.

She underlined the need for ensuring access to education for all children without discrimination to stop child labour.

Physically challenged people also became victims of trafficking due to their dependence on others and lack of education, said Mullally, also a professor of human rights law and director of the Irish Centre for Human Rights at the School of Law, National University of Ireland, Galway.

She visited Dhaka, Cox’s Bazar, and Sylhet during her Bangladesh tour from October 31 to November 9. The UN rapporteur had meetings with representatives of government agencies, as well as UN officials, law enforcement bodies, and members of civil society organisations during her stay.

She thanked Bangladesh for hosting over one million Rohingya people, who were forced to leave their homes in the Rakhine State of Myanmar.

She said Rohingyas taking shelter in Cox’s Bazar camps were at risk of trafficking.

Citing official data, Mullally said that between July and September, at least 80 Rohingyas, including 11 women, six boys, and two girls, were victims of trafficking attempts.

The UN rapporteur underlined the need for steps to ensure safe and orderly migration from Bangladesh and therefore check trafficking in persons, which she termed a serious violation of human rights.

She told reporters that the embassy officials could also protect the migrant workers, particularly domestic workers, from exploitation in the receiving countries.

She requested immediate attention to the monitoring of the situation in countries that receive migrant workers to ensure that their rights were protected.

‘We need much more focused attention on ensuring opportunities for women and ensuring the protection of their rights as workers in receiving countries,’ she mentioned.

Strong monitoring should be ensured at all stages of the recruitment process – who are making job offers, what is happening on the ground on arrival and what about their protection after their employment, according to the UN rapporteur.

She said that women migrants should be provided with additional training so that they could not be exploited. Moreover, reintegrating returnees into society was also important, she added.

‘There needs to be an extended provision of assistance and protection to those who are victims so that they don’t fall into a cycle of re-trafficking and aren't at risk of reprisals from those who are involved in trafficking,’ she said.

The US special rapporteur said that she would present a comprehensive report on her visit here to the UN Human Rights Council in June 2023.