Online birth registration for all may be a deterrent
Online birth registration for all may be a deterrent
Seminar told
Ensuring online birth registration for all may significantly reduce child trafficking, said speakers at a seminar yesterday.
Around 80 percent of the slum children and 42 percent of sex workers who enter 13 brothels of the country at the age of 13-17 do not have birth registration, the speakers said adding that if these children are registered digitally, traffickers would not be able to buy and sell theme easily.
Bangladesh Shishu Adhikar Forum (BSAF), World Vision Bangladesh and Terre des Hommes Netherlands organised the seminar titled "Child Trafficking in Bangladesh: Analysis of the Status and Possible Way Forward" at The Daily Star Centre in the capital.
Professor Ishrat Shamim of sociology, Dhaka University in her presentation said there is no statistics on the number of children trafficked between 2011 and 2014. However, according to Bangladesh police, about 559 children were trafficked from June 2004 to December 2010, she added.
She said many of the trafficked children's limbs are often amputated so that they can be used for begging on the city streets.
Kamal Uddin Ahmed, additional secretary (political) of the home ministry said Bangladesh and India would soon sign a deal on preventing human trafficking. Bangladesh is trying to bring its trafficked citizens back before inking the deal, he said.
Speaking as the chief guest, Social Welfare Minister Syed Mohsin Ali said children who are neglected by their families often become the victims of trafficking.
Md Emranul Huq Chowdhury, chairperson of BASF; Chandan Z Gomes, advocacy director of World Vision Bangladesh; Mahmudul Kabir, country director of Terre des Hommes Netherlands, among others, spoke at the event.