State Minister for Labour and Employment Mujibul Haque Chunnu on Saturday said social awareness must be increased to reduce human trafficking.
The state minister came up with the observation at a round table on ‘Preventing Human Trafficking’ jointly arranged by Bhorer Kagoj and Debate for Democracy at Dhaka Reporters Unity (DRU). He said it is hard to stop human trafficking permanently as people always cherish dreams to go abroad for a better life. “If someone goes abroad legally in search of livelihood, its called migration; but it has defined as human trafficking when somebody illegally enters another country for the same reason”, he added. Mentioning human trafficking as inhuman, Chunnu said the government has taken different actions including diplomatic efforts with Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia to prevent human trafficking. He also said the traffickers are not only from Bangladesh but also from Myanmar, Thailand and Malaysia; so, Bangladesh alone can’t stop it. All the countries have to work together to prevent this activity. Explaining the reason behind increase of human trafficking, he said 18 lakhs of people in the country enter into the labour market every year and the government is not able to provide employment to all of them; as a consequence, many of them are trying to leave the country illegally in quest of fortune.
Speaking at the programme, Prof Delwar Hossain of Department of International Relations of Dhaka University said regional and international authorities have been showing extreme reluctance on the issues of recent human trafficking.
As the problem became global one, regional and international authorities should work collectively to prevent human trafficking, he said.
Observing the situation, Debate for Democracy chairman Hasan Ahmed Chowdhury Kiron said the incidents of trafficking have been increasing as the government has failed to create e enough employment opportunities.
People are leaving the country using sea routes in search of work ignoring the fear of death, he said adding, “The government should bring the traffickers under justice and sentence them with exemplary punishment by paying no attention to their identities.” Bhorer Kagoj Editor Shyamal Dutta, Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU) Fellow Mohammad Jalal Uddin Sikder, CPB president Mujahidul Islam Selim and Ovibashi Karmi Unnayan Program (OKUP) chairman Shakirul Islam also spoke at the programme.
