Eliminating child exploitation is a complex issue that requires the involvement of several countries, experts told a regional workshop on Monday.
They said poverty was one of the prime factors driving trafficking, and a lack of awareness made it easier for traffickers to deceive victims.
The experts called for a strengthening of coordination between countries. They stressed the need for embassies to play proactive roles in the repatriation of victims.
They were speaking at a regional workshop, “Combat Trafficking in Children During and Post Covid-19”, at a Dhaka hotel. Terre des Hommes Netherlands andINCIDIN Bangladesh jointly organized the program under the project, “Building Back Better in times of Covid-19, fighting sexual exploitation of children on the rise”, funded by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs and implemented by INCIDIN Bangladesh and Ain o Salish Kendra.
INCIDIN Bangladesh Executive Director AKM Masud Ali chaired the event, attended by participants from India, Nepal, and Bangladesh. Government officials, members of the Rescue, Recovery, Repatriation, and Reintegration Task Force, child-representatives, and representatives of NGOs and civil society were among those in attendance.
Meher Afroz Chumki, chairperson of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Women and Children Affairs, along with other panelists at the event in Dhaka on Monday, April 18, 2022 CourtesyMinister of Social Welfare Ashraf Ali Khan Khasru said: "During the Covid-19 pandemic, the tendency of child exploitation has seen a sharp rise. The government cannot eliminate child trafficking alone; people from all walks of life have to contribute so that the number of trafficking incidents can be reduced."
Meher Afroz Chumki, chairperson of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Women and Children Affairs and chief guest on the occasion, said: “Many people are falling victim to traffickers due to poverty and general lack of knowledge about trafficking.”
About the repatriation of victims, she said: “Embassies and Foreign Offices need to be proactive in the rehabilitation of victims of trafficking so that they can be brought back as soon as possible.
“Eliminating trafficking is not an easy task, but rather a complex issue with multilateral aspects to it. Thus it requires the support and involvement of related countries,” she added.
While presenting the keynote paper, INCIDIN Bangladesh Executive Director Masud Ali said children were often not acquainted with the world of cyberspace, raising a new challenge. “On top of that, parents are not prepared to tackle the situation when they can play an important role in assisting their children navigate through the cyber world.
“There is a need for an institutionalized monitoring system,” he said, mentioning that the lack of a permanent and systematic monitoring system was hampering efforts to stop trafficking.
“Even though we have a very good action plan, we have to make sure it is properly implemented at the grassroots level,” said Salma Ali, president of BNWLA.
Mahmudul Kabir, country director of TdH Netherlands in Bangladesh, observed that dialogue, discussion and collaboration were critically needed in fighting sexual exploitation of children and trafficking.
Thangaparemal, country director of TdH NL India and Nepal and co-chair of South Asia Coordinating Group on Action SAIEVAC; Manbendra Natha Mandal, ATSEC chair in India; Shah Alam, DIG of Railway Police; Janatual Ferdous, joint secretary, Ministry of Law, Justice, and Parliamentary Affairs; Shiv Nath Roy, additional secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs; and Mahdy Hassan, national program officer of human trafficking and migrant smuggling at UNODC, also spoke during the consultation.
Many aspects of child trafficking were discussed, including reforms to the existing SAARC convention, challenges at shelters at different destinations, repatriation and prosecution.
