US human trafficking report mentions MP Papul

Bangladesh has moved up one rank on the US State Department’s annual human trafficking report after three years. However, the country will remain under watch of international quarters due to parliamentarian Kazi Shahid Islam alias Papul who has been arrested in Kuwait for human trafficking and money laundering. Bangladesh will have to face a certain degree of pressure because of this issue.

Washington released the annual human trafficking report on Thursday night, Bangladesh time.

The ‘Trafficking in Persons’ report did not mention the Bangladesh parliamentarian by name, but brought up the Kuwait issue. It said that government officials, including parliamentarians in Bangladesh, were closely associated with recruitment agencies, which was contrary to creating an immigration-friendly environment.

According to media reports in February 2020, a member of parliament from Bangladesh bribed Kuwaiti officials and lured over 20,000 Bangladeshi workers with promises of jobs. He gave them jobs with wages less than in their agreements. Some of them didn’t even receive any wages at all.

On 6 June the Kuwait CID arrested MP Shahid Islam (Papul) from his residence in the Mushrif area. He was taken into remand and interrogated. He revealed that he had bribed politicians and government officials for human trafficking in the name of visa business. He admitted bribing persons in Kuwait with cash and cheques. The investigating officers also learnt he had smuggled money out from Kuwait to various countries in Europe and the Middle East.

One of his associates as well as several Kuwait government officials have also be arrested. His bank accounts have been frozen and he has been sent to prison.

After the Kuwait issue, the report mentioned that from 2015-2018, Malaysian employment agencies and 10 Bangladeshi recruitment agencies formed a monopoly on recruitment of Bangladeshi workers to charge higher recruitment fees which increased Bangladeshi migrant workers’ vulnerability to debt-related coercion. The recruiters reportedly bribed politicians and officials in both countries to facilitate the monopoly. After receiving two warnings, the government submitted its inquiry report in this regard to the High Court and the hearing is pending.

What did the report say?

The US report said that the Bangladesh government did not consistently take action regarding those involved in illegally operating recruitment. However, because the government made significant effort to meet the minimum standards, it was upgraded on the list.

The US report mentioned the Rohingya trafficking issue, saying that the hundreds of reports in this regard should be investigated. Rohingyas were being trafficked by boat from Bangladesh to Malaysia. Many of them were being held hostage to extract ransom from their families.

Foreign minister AK Abdul Momen felt that the upgrade by one rank for Bangladesh was an achievement. Reacting to the report over a video message in Friday morning, Abdul Momen said it had been a matter of concern to be on the Tier 2 Watch List as this would deprive us from US assistance and soft loans from the World Bank and IMF. It is good news that our rank has improved.

Founder chair of the Refugee and Migrating Movements Research Unit (RMMRU) Tasneem Siddiqi on Friday evening told Prothom Alo the government needs to exert all strength to protect the migrant workers from the traps of the human traffickers. After the tragic incident in Libya, the law enforcement arrested many persons, but we don’t know what has happened after that. We become active whenever there is some incident, but then gradually things come to a standstill. So far the government has made no statement about the Bangladeshi member of parliament being arrested in Kuwait, she said.