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Human Rights |
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Human Rights |
| Nearly 25,000 Bangladeshis trafficked a
year: study DHAKA, Nov 23 (Reuters):Nearly 25,000 Bangladeshi women and children are illegally trafficked into neighbouring countries and the Middle East every year, according to a Bangladesh National Women Lawyers Association survey released on Tuesday. “Human traffickers have lured the women and children to migrate to another country on false promises of employment,” association chief Salma Ali told reporters while releasing the survey. She said poverty and lack of education were mainly responsible for women stepping into traps laid by the traffickers. “Poverty is the most influential factor. Ninety percent of women victims are illiterate and only five percent have primary education,” she said. Ali said the survey conducted recently in 10 villages found that 33 out of 51 victims were still missing. Others returned home on their own or with help from various human rights and voluntary organisations in Bangladesh and other countries. “Our estimate is at about 25,000 women and children are trafficked out of the country every year and many of them remain missing for ever,” Ali said Her association rescued 400 women and children from India, Pakistan and Middle East countries over the last few year, she said. “Lack of enforcement of proper prosecution, use of children as commodities, powerlessness and vulnerability of women, corruption and bribery at all levels from border police to (officials in the) passport office are the main causes of trafficking of women and children,” she said. Police said most of the trafficked women end up in brothels while the children are used in crimes and for cheap labour. Another newsreport in The Independent, a Bangladeshi daily quotes sources who said that more than 500 women and children have been trafficked to India from this zone during the last three months. About 20 lakh women are reported to have been engaged in sex works in different brothels in India and the traffickers reap benefits from the flesh trade. The sources said, the women after being trafficked are engaged in sex work directly and the male children as domestic servants. The female children when grow up are engaged in sex work. It is gathered that the Bangladeshi women are in great demand in the brothels located in different provinces in India and as such the traffickers find it more profitable in women trafficking at any risk. |