Bangladesh status unchanged

Bangladesh failed to improve its status in the US Trafficking in Persons Report this year as the country retains its last year position and remains in Tier-2 of the three-tier system.

In 2012, Bangladesh improved its status and reached Tier-2 from Tier-2 Watch List in 2011.

According to the 2013 Annual Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP) report of the US State Department released in Washington DC on June 19, Bangladesh is a source country for men, women and children subjected to forced labour and sex trafficking.

It said Bangladesh does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so.

According to the report, the government drafted rules to implement the 2012 Human Trafficking Deterrence and Suppression Act (HTDSA) and began prosecuting cases under the law.

However, the lack of adequate law enforcement efforts and institutional weaknesses continued to contribute to the trafficking of Bangladeshi migrant workers abroad.

It said the government took limited steps to regulate fraudulent recruitment agents and their unlicensed subagents. Inadequate trafficking victim protection remained a serious problem.

The report said some of the Bangladeshi men and women who migrate to the Gulf, Maldives, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Europe, and elsewhere for work subsequently face conditions indicative of forced labour, such as threats of force, physical or sexual abuse.

Quoting a civil society group report, it said that some Bangladeshi men in the Gulf, particularly in the United Arab Emirates, are vulnerable to being subjected to forced labour in other countries, including Greece and Spain.

Some women and children from Bangladesh are transported to India and Pakistan, where they are subjected to commercial sexual exploitation or forced labour. Some in the Rohingya community in Bangladesh have been subjected to human trafficking.

The US report recommended finalising, adopting and disseminating the implementing rules for the HTDSA, and training government officials including law enforcement, labour inspectors, and immigration officers on its implementation.

It suggested taking steps to sharply reduce all recruitment fees charged by licensed labour recruiters, and enforcing violations with criminal sanctions; increasing efforts to prosecute trafficking cases and convict trafficking offenders.

The report asked to improve oversight of Bangladesh’s international recruiting agencies to ensure they are not promoting practices that contribute to labour trafficking; provide support services for adult male trafficking victims and victims of forced labour.