VIEWPOINTS
Human trafficking and forced labour in BanglAdEsh and India By Tahmina Rahman
Global Context Human trafficking and forced labour are not new phenomena. With globalisation, issues such as wealth and comfort become more polarised. This increasing demand for cheap labour in developed countries and increased mobility has made human trafficking multi-dimensional. Despite global efforts to tackle trafficking, which is recognised as a crime and a violation of human rights, it is gradually increasing. Defining Human Trafficking and Forced Labour Human trafficking is the trade of human beings for the purposes of forced labour, sexual exploitation and slavery. It is a multi-dimensional violation of human rights. It results in activities such as domestic servitude, low-wage work in formal and informal sectors and sex work. Earlier forms of human trafficking mostly saw the sex slavery of women, but now it is understood in a broader continuum which includes men, women and children in hazardous work and organised crime as well. According to the ILO Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29), forced or compulsory labour is: "all work or service which is exacted from any person under the threat of a penalty and for which the person has not offered himself or herself voluntarily." The definition consists of 3 elements. These are: (1) work or service which includes all types of work in formal and informal sectors, (2) threat of penalty refers to the wide range of penalties used to compel someone to work, and (3) voluntariness refers to the consent of workers and their choice to leave work.
Human Trafficking in Bangladesh Trafficking in women and children in Bangladesh is a growing concern as thousands of women and children are trafficked to neighbouring countries as well as the Middle East, with false hopes of getting better jobs or better living conditions. Unprotected by law due to their illegal status, they become vulnerable to economic and social exploitation, being forced to work for low or no wage, coerced into marriage and made to become sex workers to develop the tourism sector in many countries. The 2017 Trafficking in Persons Report downgraded Bangladesh to Tier 2 Watch list as it did not demonstrate increasing effort to tackle human trafficking compared to the previous reporting period. Coupled with its lucrative nature, a poor economy, over-population, gender discrimination, the patriarchal social system, exclusion, unemployment, rural and urban migration, displacement due to recurrent natural disasters, lack of good governance, the social security system and lack of awareness are some reasons behind human trafficking. Getting data of trafficking in Bangladesh is hard as families are usually not willing to share information for fear of shame or further threat, making trafficking low-risk for recruiters. Therefore traffickers are hardly convicted and the phenomenon remains invisible, resulting in difficulty in establishing actual data about trafficking.
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