Joynal Abedin Khan :
In the wake of unabated human trafficking, the government has decided to set up Border Operational Post (BOP) between Bangladesh and Myanmar, specially in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) and Cox’s Bazar frontier areas to counter the burning issue.
In the backdrop, the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) on Tuesday approved a project ‘Enhancement of the operational capabilities of Bangladesh Coast Guard’ worth Tk 478 crore, aiming to curb of human tracking amid growing migrant crisis.
State Minister for Home Affairs Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal made the statement while addressing a press conference at the Secretariat Bhaban in the city on Tuesday afternoon.
Apart from this, Bangladesh Coast Guard has been working to the frontier points with Myanmar and the project’s implementation period fixed from January, 2015 to August, 2018, he said.
The minister said that under the project, home ministry will procure three inshore vessels, three large high-speed boats, a floating crane, materials and furniture for Bangladesh Coast Guard office.
Regarding the matter, “Everyday we notice reports of trafficking in the coastal area,” he said.
“After implementation of the project, human trafficking is expected to be curbed,” he hoped.
The minister said: “Around 250km border area between Bangladesh and Myanmar has remained unprotected till now but we have decided to set up BOP there to bring down the problem of human trafficking. We could not set up BOP there previously because these areas are remote,” he added.
Moreover, Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) personnel will be deployed along the 250km unsecured border with Myanmar, the minister Asaduzzaman said.
According to the minister, home ministry has taken up the project with the aim of different goals, including curbing human trafficking, preventing illegal fishing in the waters, reducing illegal entry and smuggling, preserving national interests in both inland and coastal waters and preventing the cataching of jatka (hilsa fry) and mother hilsa.
Security of the people, who work in coastal areas of the country, will be ensured as well as piracy will be resisted in the Bangladesh
maritime boundary, the minister added. The lifting capacity of Bangladesh Coast Guard will be increased to strengthen maintenance and rescue operation boosting immediate supply in remote ‘operational’ areas.
The minister also said most of the migrants floating near Malaysia and Indonesia are Rohingyas and not Bangladeshis and their identities can be ascertained by their physical structures, clothes and language.
‘The government will provide separate identity cards to the fishermen in the Bay of Bengal to curb human trafficking. Separate number-plates will also be given to the goods-carrying trawlers,’ he said.
Minister for expatriate welfare and overseas employment Khandakar Mosharraf Hossain said, “We send people legally. It is the home ministry’s work to prevent human trafficking.” However, he did add, “The government will now be sterner. The persons involved in trafficking will be uprooted.”
People have travelling illegally to Malaysia by sea route over the past few years. The matter came to light when the Sri Lankan navy on February 3 of 2012, found 138 unconscious persons in a fishing trawler. Recently the ugly face of human trafficking came to light with the discovery and recovery of Bangladeshis in Thai jungles.
Joint Secretary (political) of the home ministry, Mostafizur Rahman said, “”t is true that the previous two work plans did not focus on human trafficking, but this time we will give the issue top priority. We have already begun work to halt human trafficking by sea.”
In 2008, a national work plan was undertaken, its term ending in 2011. The second work plan started in 2012 and ended in 2014. All action against human trafficking is taken through this plan. However, neither of the plans had any mention of human trafficking. In fact, this hasn’t even featured in the 2015-17 work plan, sources said.
The government did not take timely measures to prevent human trafficking despite being warned by various quarters about people being smuggled out by the sea route, sources said.
In fact, trafficking by the sea route wasn’t even included in the government’s national work plan regarding the prevention of human trafficking. As a result, people are going abroad by risky illegal routes, and at the same time, Bangladesh’s image has been tarnished in abroad.
United National High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) have highlighted human trafficking in their recent reports.
CR Abrar, coordinator of Dhaka University’s Refugee and Migratory Movement Research Unit (RMMRU) said, “If there had been political commitment at the outset to prevent human trafficking, then this situation wouldn’t have arisen. We request the concerned authorities in the government to take action now so that trafficking comes to an end.”
In the wake of unabated human trafficking, the government has decided to set up Border Operational Post (BOP) between Bangladesh and Myanmar, specially in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) and Cox’s Bazar frontier areas to counter the burning issue.
In the backdrop, the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) on Tuesday approved a project ‘Enhancement of the operational capabilities of Bangladesh Coast Guard’ worth Tk 478 crore, aiming to curb of human tracking amid growing migrant crisis.
State Minister for Home Affairs Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal made the statement while addressing a press conference at the Secretariat Bhaban in the city on Tuesday afternoon.
Apart from this, Bangladesh Coast Guard has been working to the frontier points with Myanmar and the project’s implementation period fixed from January, 2015 to August, 2018, he said.
The minister said that under the project, home ministry will procure three inshore vessels, three large high-speed boats, a floating crane, materials and furniture for Bangladesh Coast Guard office.
Regarding the matter, “Everyday we notice reports of trafficking in the coastal area,” he said.
“After implementation of the project, human trafficking is expected to be curbed,” he hoped.
The minister said: “Around 250km border area between Bangladesh and Myanmar has remained unprotected till now but we have decided to set up BOP there to bring down the problem of human trafficking. We could not set up BOP there previously because these areas are remote,” he added.
Moreover, Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) personnel will be deployed along the 250km unsecured border with Myanmar, the minister Asaduzzaman said.
According to the minister, home ministry has taken up the project with the aim of different goals, including curbing human trafficking, preventing illegal fishing in the waters, reducing illegal entry and smuggling, preserving national interests in both inland and coastal waters and preventing the cataching of jatka (hilsa fry) and mother hilsa.
Security of the people, who work in coastal areas of the country, will be ensured as well as piracy will be resisted in the Bangladesh
maritime boundary, the minister added. The lifting capacity of Bangladesh Coast Guard will be increased to strengthen maintenance and rescue operation boosting immediate supply in remote ‘operational’ areas.
The minister also said most of the migrants floating near Malaysia and Indonesia are Rohingyas and not Bangladeshis and their identities can be ascertained by their physical structures, clothes and language.
‘The government will provide separate identity cards to the fishermen in the Bay of Bengal to curb human trafficking. Separate number-plates will also be given to the goods-carrying trawlers,’ he said.
Minister for expatriate welfare and overseas employment Khandakar Mosharraf Hossain said, “We send people legally. It is the home ministry’s work to prevent human trafficking.” However, he did add, “The government will now be sterner. The persons involved in trafficking will be uprooted.”
People have travelling illegally to Malaysia by sea route over the past few years. The matter came to light when the Sri Lankan navy on February 3 of 2012, found 138 unconscious persons in a fishing trawler. Recently the ugly face of human trafficking came to light with the discovery and recovery of Bangladeshis in Thai jungles.
Joint Secretary (political) of the home ministry, Mostafizur Rahman said, “”t is true that the previous two work plans did not focus on human trafficking, but this time we will give the issue top priority. We have already begun work to halt human trafficking by sea.”
In 2008, a national work plan was undertaken, its term ending in 2011. The second work plan started in 2012 and ended in 2014. All action against human trafficking is taken through this plan. However, neither of the plans had any mention of human trafficking. In fact, this hasn’t even featured in the 2015-17 work plan, sources said.
The government did not take timely measures to prevent human trafficking despite being warned by various quarters about people being smuggled out by the sea route, sources said.
In fact, trafficking by the sea route wasn’t even included in the government’s national work plan regarding the prevention of human trafficking. As a result, people are going abroad by risky illegal routes, and at the same time, Bangladesh’s image has been tarnished in abroad.
United National High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) have highlighted human trafficking in their recent reports.
CR Abrar, coordinator of Dhaka University’s Refugee and Migratory Movement Research Unit (RMMRU) said, “If there had been political commitment at the outset to prevent human trafficking, then this situation wouldn’t have arisen. We request the concerned authorities in the government to take action now so that trafficking comes to an end.”
