Fighting human trafficking in Bangladesh a priority for US: Ambassador

Fighting human trafficking in Bangladesh is a priority for the US, Ambassador Earl R Miller said today.

"Human trafficking is modern slavery…It has no place in our world. Anywhere," he said while inaugurating an anti-human trafficking workshop for tribunal judges in Dhaka along with Law Minister Anisul Huq.

"Working with you to fight human trafficking is a priority of the US embassy. This workshop reaffirms our commitment to partner with the government of Bangladesh, civil society, the private sector, and trafficking survivors to end trafficking in persons," Ambassador Miller said.

The Fight Slavery and Trafficking In-Persons (FSTIP) project organised the event funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), according to a statement of the US Embassy. 

Strong collaboration between the US and Bangladesh led to the establishment of seven special tribunals to prosecute trafficking-in-persons (TIP) and the implementation of the five-year National Plan of Action to combat human trafficking.

In the past five years, USAID has trained 569 judges and more than 1,000 police, public prosecutors, and lawyers on human trafficking issues. US programmes and funding also support community organisations to provide shelter, healthcare, counseling, life-skills, and entrepreneurship training, and job placement to over 3,000 trafficking survivors.

Despite the Prevention and Suppression of Human Trafficking Act of 2012, American and Bangladeshi law enforcement and judicial partners recognise prosecution and conviction rates for human trafficking can be improved.

USAID's USD 10 million FSTIP project is helping Bangladesh more effectively prosecute and convict human traffickers through training like this week's workshop for justice sector officers, prosecutors, and judges.

Bangladesh's attainment of Tier 2 status for the last two consecutive years in the US Department of State's TIP Report demonstrates the growing success of the US-Bangladesh partnership combatting human trafficking, the statement said.

Law Ministry Secretary Golam Sarwar; Justice Nazmun Ara Sultana, director general at the Judicial Administration Training Institute; Golam Kibria, Senior District and Sessions Judge, director of training, Judicial Administration Training Institute (JATI), also spoke at the event.