At a meeting organized by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the Home Ministry at the National Press Club on 26 June, experts stressed the need for coordinated efforts among NGOs and government agencies to combat human trafficking in the country. The speakers urged the government, law enforcement agencies, media, NGO officials, lawyers and religious leaders to work together in raising public awareness about trafficking as a crime against humanity that impacts on the economy, politics and society. Rezaul Haque of USAID Bangladesh also called on donor agencies to consider anti-trafficking measures as a development agenda that deserve priority attention.
Trafficking victim, Nasrin, who was rescued by an Indian NGO six months ago, was turned over to the Bangladeshi Rifles at the Benapole border on 15 June. The 16-year old girl from Andaria village in Mymensingh district had been taken to India by a certain Jharna Begum from her village who tried to sell her to a brothel in Kolkata. Two Bangladeshi NGOs, Action Aid and Savior, assisted by the Home Ministry, coordinated with the Indian NGO to facilitate her repatriation.
A Malaysian delegation visited Bangladesh on 18-20 June to discuss with the Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Mohammed Quamrul the possibility of recruiting 200,000 additional Bangladeshi workers. Malaysia, which currently hosts some 125,000 workers from Bangladesh, has lifted the ban on the recruitment of more Bangladeshi workers last month. However, according to Abdul Malek Bin Abdul Aziz, the High Commissioner of Malaysia in Bangladesh, the resumption of manpower import from Bangladesh would depend on the government’s ability to stop the involvement of middlemen or intermediaries in the labor export process.
A group of 50 furious jobseekers stormed the office of Motijheel recruiting agency, Al Zam Zam International, on 24 June and held its officers and staff hostage for four hours. The group was set to leave for Fiji that day only to be told by agency officials that their flight had been cancelled. Babul Rana, the agency’s director, said he was forced to cancel the flight after he discovered that his passport along with 13 air tickets and some cash were missing from the office. Rana explained that he needed his passport to accompany the workers group to Fiji to hand them over to their employer. He said the group’s flight has been rescheduled for 10 July.
Bangladesh sent a formal letter to the Indian Border Security Force on 29 June seeking a flag meeting to diffuse tension following a four-hour gun battle along the northeastern state of Assam the day before. The gun battle was over a strip of land measuring 216 acres near the Surma River, which both sides claim as their territory. A Bangladeshi civilian was allegedly injured in the gunfight. A week earlier India started beefing up its security at several places along its border with Bangladesh after 10 incidents of what it called “unprovoked" firing by the Bangladeshi Rifles.
Sources: “Trafficked girl returns home from India," The Daily Star, 17 June 2006; Xinhua, “Bangladesh expects to supply 200,000 more workers to Malaysia soon," People's Daily, 21 June 2006; Reuters, “Indian border force warns Bangladesh over firing," Daily Times, 22 June 2006; “Agitated people lay siege to recruiting agency," The Daily Star, 25 June 2006; “Resumption of manpower export to KL depends on curbing role of middlemen," Financial Express, 26 June 2006; “Combined efforts a must to curb human trafficking," The Daily Star, 27 June 2006; Rafiq Hasan, “Fresh manpower export to Malaysia stalled," The Daily Star, 28 June 2006; IANS, “Heavy firing by soldiers on India-Bangladesh border," Daily India, 28 June 2006; IANS, “Bangla guards seek meeting to ease tension," The Peninsula, 30 June 2006