Bangladesh improved a notch in the US government's annual report ranking countries on their anti-trafficking standards. According to the report, though Bangladesh could not achieve the least standard required to eliminate human trafficking, it had improved its efforts to combat the menace.
Only one month after the publication of the report, crimes of a powerful syndicate trafficking women to Dubai questions the improvement, also smearing the image of the country in the international arena.
This is so unfortunate that the crimes of such trafficking syndicates are not revealed in the country. They are only unearthed once the victims face inhuman suffering abroad.
A few days ago, 27 Bangladeshis became stranded in Vietnam. It was revealed that a syndicate, since 2018, had been trafficking many Bangladesh nationals to Vietnam promising admission to colleges and universities.
They published advertisements in the media and made false promises to jobseekers. The Bangladesh embassy has repatriated a number of people while many are still in distress there. Earlier, Kuwait police arrested a member of the Bangladesh parliament, Shahid Islam, in Kuwait for human trafficking.
The Dubai incident is a matter of the gravest concern, as Bangladesh’s Azam Khan forced over a thousand of women to become sex workers once they were lured in the name of employment.
The perpetrator from Fatikchhari, Chattogram, owns four hotels and had employed brokers across the country. The brokers promised the women hotel jobs in the United Arab Emirates. Though, the recruiting agencies generally take money from people going abroad, these women were rather being paid in advance. Azam Khan ran the business for eight years and had set up a torture cell in UAE, too. Those defying him would be tortured in the cell. Recently the UAE police confiscated Azam Khan’s passport and sent him back to Bangladesh. They also informed Bangladesh embassy. Finally, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) arrested three people including Azam Khan.
There are several forces, including the CID, working in the country to contain crimes. How come they did not notice all these before? Is it the incompetency of the concerned authorities or does the anomaly lie amid the forces themselves? The law enforcement agencies cannot deny its responsibilities regarding the incessant human trafficking. Generally, they remain active for some days after a ring is arrested, but later become inactive again.
The CID will seek assistance of the Interpol to arrest other members of the Dubai syndicate, according to the CID. This requires time. They should first arrest Azam Khan’s associates in the country. The women trafficked to Dubai must be repatriated without delay. There are several anti-human trafficking laws as well as special court at divisional cities. The government is responsible to ensure that no one does such heinous crimes finding the loopholes of the law.