Khulna division tops in human trafficking: Report

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. 

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.

Trafficking routes from Bangladesh are increasingly globalised, with victims detected in most parts of the world, said Mahdy, adding that some of whom are in transit waiting to be smuggled to Europe. 

"Many Bangladeshi victims have been trafficked abroad in the context of labour migration with promises of better employment, particularly in the countries of GCC and Europe," he added.

Four persons were convicted of human trafficking in 2018, nine in 2019, and only one in 2020. On the contrary, the number of arrests made in those years was 688, 199 and 373, respectively, Mahdy said.

Poor people, especially the climate refugees, living in the Sundarbans and coastal areas of the country's Khulna region are more prone to becoming victims of human trafficking.

The victims, especially women and children, are not only trafficked into slavery but many of them are being used in the illegal organ business. Besides Khulna, human trafficking cases in the Sylhet region have increased, the report underscored.

Md Aminul Islam Khan, senior secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs, said, "The emerging effects of Covid-19 and climate change on human trafficking trends and patterns are alarming. The Russia-Ukraine war also made more people economically vulnerable, further pushing up the trafficking trend in recent years."

The report, however, did not mention anything about Rohingya communities' trafficking cases. 

According to the UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, at least 3,500 Rohingya people tried to flee the country by sea route in 2022 and more than 348 died while being trafficked to different countries through maritime routes.