Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said Bangladesh is working closely with neighboring countries to stop the human trafficking
“We are working with our neighbouring countries to stop human trafficking and Bangladesh has formed a joint taskforce with India to this end,” he said this on Tuesday while speaking at the inaugural function of a conference in the auditorium of Bangabandhu International Conference Center here.
United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Winrock International is organizing the two-day conference titled ‘National Plan of Action for Combating Human Trafficking 2015-2017: Achievement and Way Forward’.
Secretary of the Law and Justice Division Abu Saleh Sheikh Mohammad Zahirul Haque, Secretary of the Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Ministry Dr Namita Halder and Secretary of the Women and Children Affairs Ministry Nasima Begum, USAID Mission Director Janina Jaruzelski, among others, were present at the function with Secretary of the Public Security Division of the Home Ministry Mostafa Kamal Uddin in the chair.
Bangladesh still has a lot of challenges in preventing human trafficking, Asaduzzaman said, adding human trafficking could not be prevented fully due to having several challenges.
He said many people become victims of human trafficking easily due to lack of proper education.
To prevent the menace, the Home Minister urged all to come up with recommendations for addressing the gaps and challenges based on the realities from the grass-root level.
He said a combined effort is must in combating human trafficking.
Asaduzzaman said Bangladesh government has demonstrated strong commitment in preventing human trafficking. The present government has also taken different initiatives to this end specially to stop trafficking of women and children.
The government has already taken initiatives to stop cross border human trafficking through coordination and cooperation of this Rescue, Recovery, Repatriation and Integration (RRRI) taskforce in India and Bangladesh.
On the Rohingya crisis, Asaduzzaman said Bangladesh is facing the challenges of trafficking of Rohingya women and children.
