Let us combat child trafficking

Child trafficking has become our national problem. Though there is no accurate data available as to how many children have been trafficked in the country, the rights activists working in the field opined that it goes on unabated and most of the victims are girl children. It is taking place due to non-enforcement of the relevant law.
The trafficking is such a crude form of trade in human being, which aims to earn profit through sexual slavery, forced labour, debt bondage and organ sale. It snatches personal liberty and undermines personal safety and dignity along with physical and mental freedom.
There is both national and international human trafficking in Bangladesh. Although mainly a source country for international human trafficking, Bangladesh in recent years has turned out to be a country of both transit and destination. Bangladesh government has taken up initiative to combat human trafficking as one of its priorities.
The issue of trafficking is integrally linked to insecurity of livelihood as well as to continuing disparities and discrimination against marginalized communities generally, and against women and children in particular.
Many trafficked persons are lured and deceived by false promises of good jobs or marriage, while some are bought, abducted, coerced, threatened with force or used as debt bondage. Some of the women and children are trafficked with the tacit consent of their poverty-stricken families.     
In case of internal trafficking, usually children are trapped by the trafficking through false promise of better life and work or marriage. The traffickers engage and enslave them in such crude sectors as sexual exploitation, forced labour or in the brickfields, which demands hard labour. Usually the marginalized households and households affected by natural disasters or seasonal unemployment in rural areas become easy target of the traffickers.
At the face of economic, social and gender discrimination, in these households, the women and children are under critical livelihood crisis along with high level of social insecurity.
Although land route is utilized for cross border trafficking to India, land, water and aerial routes are utilized and along with destinations, several countries are used as transits. India or Pakistan is simultaneously transit and destination for trafficking cases originating in Bangladesh.
Human trafficking is clandestine, organized and complex process carried out by international organized chain of criminals. As a result, it is almost impossible for the government to combat this crime in isolation.
Moreover, for the fear of social discrimination and stigma, threats from the criminals, absence of access to legal assistance and for being unaware of legal provisions -- in most of the cases the victims of human trafficking and their family members avoid the legal system of seeking justice. As a result, it hides the true prevalence of trafficking. It also hampers the prospect of punishing the criminals and delivering justice to the victims.
Marginalized and migrating populations, living nearby or afar from the borders are exposed to the risk of trafficking. In the border areas, as there is a history and tradition of cross-border mobility and as there is a kind of tolerance prevailing among the border communities for irregular mobility-high prevalence of both trafficking and traffickers is found among these communities.
Child labour, child marriage, dowry, domestic violence and other forms of gender-based violence and discriminations push the children into a high-risk category for trafficking.
We need to raise awareness of the children, their parents and community members regarding trafficking in children (causes, consequences, legal provisions, sources of assistance and need of removal of social stigma to facilitate mainstreaming of the survivors and preventing push for trafficking/re-trafficking).
It is needed to strengthen capacity and facilitate active role of the different committees formed under the National Plan of Action (NPA) and Children's Act to address the issue of trafficking in children.  
We can promote Go-NGO cooperation to protect the children employed in the informal sector of the economy (in which trafficked children are exploited), and strengthen coordination and capacities of the Go and NGOs to address the issue of child trafficking through strong service and advocacy networking.
We should develop an updated knowledge-base and data sharing mechanism on status (incidence, interventions, legal outcomes) and trends of child trafficking. As part of anti-trafficking measures, we can also sign agreements with the neighbouring countries where Bangladeshi children are trafficked.  
A consortium consisting of six organizations-Bangladesh National Women Lawyers' Association (BNWLA), Incidin Bangladesh, Community Participation and Development (CPD), Nari Maitree, Rights Jessore and Social and Economic Enhancement Programme (SEEP)--has taken up a project titled 'Prevention of Child Trafficking through Strengthening Community and Networking (PCTSCN)' for combating the trafficking.  
According to the consortium, Prevention and Deterrence Act-2012 and National Plan of Action (NPA)-2015-2017 stipulated for maximum punishment for committing the crime of child trafficking, but the criminals responsible for it have not been punished due to its non-enforcement. The culture of impunity has encouraged the criminals to continue their crime.    
The Act also called for providing protection to the victims, making efforts for tracing the victims, rehabilitation of the victims after rescue, providing compensation to the victims, and taking steps for prevention of trafficking.     
Trafficking prevention committees, formed as per the NPA and the Act, should be active and their power be increased for halting the crime. The zila, upazila and union-based committees should play its active role.
The consortium recommended measures such as ensuring speedy trial, making Human Trafficking Crime Prevention Tribunal effective, making an effective institutional structure for prevention and deterrence of the trafficking and providing legal assistance to the victims by the government.       
The trafficking is a crime against humanity. As the children of ultra poor are at risk, special steps should be taken for protecting them.  
The consortium also called for providing necessary services including rehabilitation, life skill training and psychosocial supports to those rescued after trafficking. If the rescued are not provided the supports, they may again be victims of the criminals.   
Article 34 of Bangladesh Constitution called for protecting the human rights of all the citizens. Apart from SAARC Convention 2008 on Women and Child Trafficking Prevention and Deterrence, Bangladesh had ratified a number of international agreements/documents for combating human trafficking. Hence, Bangladesh is pledged-bound to take anti-trafficking steps.      
It is hoped that the government along with the stakeholders would take necessary steps for implementing the Act and the NPA for combating the trafficking in our national interest.

The writer, a journalist, can be reached at sissabuj@yahoo.com