The government focus should reach individual level to address people’s desperateness as that forces them to leave their motherland illegally, speakers said yesterday at the launching ceremony of National Plan of Action for Combating Human Trafficking 2015-2017.
The ceremony was organised by the USAID and Winrock International at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre.
The speakers said several risk factors should be addressed to combat human trafficking; otherwise the NPA will not be effective.
Foreign Secretary Md Shahidul Haque said: “We need to address why a particular individual of a particular family is desperate to leave the country.
“Migration is an individual’s endeavour and choice which is governed by the state and the market. If there is demand there will be supply for sure in this era of connectivity and globalisation. People think if they leave the country they will get a job.
“We need to address all of the risk factors in our NPA; otherwise it would be difficult to make it effective.”
Other speakers said if the government wants to show zero tolerance in combating human trafficking, it should first ensure transparency, capability and political commitment.
“We are all outraged by the crimes being committed upon thousands of Rohingyas and Bangladeshis who have been stranded in overcrowded boats. The anguish and helplessness of these people and their families has touched every one of us,” said US Ambassador to Bangladesh Marcia Stephens Bloom Bernicat.
“Like other forms of transnational crime, it cannot be stopped by one country, one organisation, or one governmental ministry alone. Source countries, transit countries, and destination countries must work together,” she pointed out.
She further said: “For years, we have known that this crime affects every country in the world, including ours [the US] … More than 20 million people, a conservative estimate, are victims of human trafficking.”
The NPA pointed out its challenges as changing comparison between knowledge and behavior while it also face challenge in victims identification, gender bias in assistance, prosecution and measuring results.
Winrock International Bangladesh Counter-Trafficking in Person programme Chief of Party Irinel Cocos delivered the welcome speech at the programme.
State Minister for Home Asaduzzaman Khan, who was supposed to be present, did not attend the programme.