Issue: Trafficking in Children

Overview:

Bangladesh signed the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Convention on Prevention and Combating Trafficking in Women and Children for Prostitution. The government has adopted a ‘National Plan of Action against the Sexual Abuse and Exploitation of Children including Trafficking’ to address child sexual exploitation and trafficking in person.

If the government emphasizes this cluster on priority basis our socio-economic status cannot support those initiatives positively. Lack of education, awareness and vicious cycle of poverty influence child rights violations specially child trafficking and child labour. An NGO Bangladesh National Women Lawyers Association has rescued 271 trafficked children within and outside the country in the year 2002. According to CID (Crime Investigation Department) report, they rescued 512 women and children out of 575 between 1997 to March 2003.

Another source the commanding Officer of BDR (Bangladesh Rifles) disclosed that from January 2000 to August 2001 as many as 1914 persons including 265 children were rescued from the trafficking in the border areas (The Bangladesh Observer, 10 Sept. 2001).

This statistics shows large number of women and the law enforcing agencies at different times recovered children but their number is far from satisfactory as compared the number of women and children being trafficked. Several thousand women and children are trafficked annually from Bangladesh primarily to India, Pakistan and Middle East. Boys are trafficked to Middle East, where they are engaged as camel jockeys. Under continuous pressure of the Human Rights organizations and considering some accident the UAE government took a decision to in force a law to banning use of children at Camel Jockey from 1st September 2002.

To protect child from trafficking the government took a pilot project on ‘Child Development: Coordinated Program to Combat Child Trafficking’. Awareness raising, training, rescue, rehabilitation, information collection etc are the key activities of that project is being implemented through NGOs. Government of Bangladesh also enacted the `Suppression of Immoral Trafficking Act 1933’ and ‘Prevention of Repression Against Women and Children Act 2000’. But that act considers children below the age 14 years. But the government activity consider to raise the age to 16 instead of 14.

The initiatives and interventions should be coordinated for greater achievement. BSAF, as a Child Rights based network can take that role. Comprehensive and long-term plan should be undertaken to combat trafficking in children.