“He’s only 14 months old, Apa,” the father replied softly when I asked how old his child was. “Weren’t you scared to cross the border with a baby that young?” I asked again, still trying to grasp the risk they had taken.
He glanced down at the dusty floor for a moment before replying, “I was unwell, Apa. The flood washed away our land. I couldn’t pull a rickshaw or work at a brick field anymore. I needed treatment, and my child deserves a future. The middleman promised work and support. So, my wife and I talked it through, and we set off, placing our fate in Allah’s hands.”
This conversation happened at the Agartala-Akhaura border, where we had gone to receive 14 Bangladeshi nationals detained in India for crossing the border without authorization.
Among them was a small family -- a father, a mother, and their 14-month-old child, exhausted from detention, worn out from detention, burdened by despair, and stripped of the future they had once been promised.
Their story, though heartbreaking, is not unique. In recent years, the number of trafficking and migrant smuggling cases involving Bangladeshi nationals has grown alarmingly.
Driven by desperation intensified by climate change, vulnerable families are falling prey to traffickers.
Rising sea levels, floods, droughts, and cyclones are swallowing farmland and homes, displacing millions.
For many, migration feels like the only option for survival, but it’s a journey riddled with exploitation and danger.
Just a few weeks ago, 123 Bangladeshi survivors were repatriated from Libya. Most had entered illegally, lured by traffickers promising safe passage to Europe.
Instead, many endured abduction, starvation, extortion, and abuse before being rescued and flown home.
In late May and early June alone, another 150 and 123 returnees came in separate flights, each group scarred by similar ordeals.
By March, 176 more had also been brought back safely, though still traumatized, marking thousands repatriated from Libya since 2017.
According to UNHCR, Bangladesh has ranked number one for the past three years among countries whose citizens try to enter Europe by crossing the Mediterranean Sea from Libya.
Each of these individuals once held a dream -- but that dream was stolen.
Some families sold their land or borrowed Tk25 lakh or more to pay traffickers with promises of a better life.
Three survivors, held and tortured in Libya for nine months, were only rescued when fellow migrant workers recognized them and helped them escape.
Closer to home, in Malaysia, eleven Bangladeshi men were rescued from a trafficking syndicate in Kuala Lumpur, trapped in forced labour after being promised legitimate jobs, and it’s a regular scenario.
Technology made it worse
In March, 18 young Bangladeshis, many barely adults -- were rescued from scam centres in Myanmar, where they were forced to carry out online fraud under constant threats of violence.
Lured by promises of IT jobs, they found themselves trapped in modern-day slavery. One survivor recalled being tortured for attempting to resist.
It is not just brute force that traffickers use anymore. Technology has given them new tools. Facebook groups, TikTok pages, and encrypted Telegram chats are now being used to recruit victims.
False marriage proposals, overseas job offers, and scholarships are being used to lure struggling youths and families desperate for a better life.
Traffickers now exploit social media platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, and Telegram, flooding them with fake job ads and marriage proposals to trap the vulnerable.
Climate vulnerability fuels this cycle. Coastal communities, battered by rising waters and salinization, lose livelihoods daily.
When crops fail and homes flood, families have little choice but to trust middlemen promising a better life.
A father, too sick to work, his land lost to erosion, crosses a border with his toddler, hoping for a future.
Instead, he faces detention.
Most of the people who fall into trafficking traps are not naive -- they are cornered. When there are no jobs, no land, no food security, and no social safety net, people will do what they must to survive.
In their desperation, they become vulnerable to lies. That’s how a sick father, too weak to cycle a rickshaw, ends up holding a 14-month-old at an international border, facing legal consequences instead of receiving aid.
Observed annually on July 30, the World Day Against Trafficking in Persons was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 2013 to raise awareness about human trafficking and promote the protection of victims’ rights.
It serves as a global call to action to strengthen prevention, prosecute perpetrators, and support survivors.
The 2025 theme, “Human Trafficking is Organized Crime -- End the Exploitation,” emphasizes dismantling sophisticated criminal networks that exploit vulnerabilities through social media recruitment and cross-border smuggling.
This day galvanises governments, NGOs, and communities to address root causes like poverty and climate change, ensuring no one is left vulnerable to exploitation.
Not quite there yet
Bangladesh has made notable strides in combating human trafficking, though significant challenges remain.
The country is classified as a Tier 2 nation in the US State Department’s Trafficking in Persons Report for the fifth consecutive year, reflecting significant efforts to meet minimum standards for eliminating trafficking but falling short in key areas.
These efforts include convicting more traffickers, increasing victim identification, and establishing seven anti-trafficking tribunals as mandated by the 2012 Prevention and Suppression of Human Trafficking Act (PSHTA).
The government acceded to the 2000 UN TIP Protocol and has collaborated with organizations like the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) under initiatives like GLO.ACT-Bangladesh to enhance data-driven responses and victim support.
However, gaps persist. Investigations and prosecutions remain inadequate relative to the scale of the problem, with a 1.7% conviction rate for suspected traffickers under the PSHTA.
Many officials conflate trafficking with migrant smuggling, and resources for pre-trial investigations are insufficient.
Victim protection, especially for those identified overseas, is severely lacking, and mobile courts handling trafficking cases can only impose penalties up to three years, less than the PSHTA’s minimum of five years.
The government’s oversight of recruitment agencies, such as the Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA), is unable to control malpractices like high recruitment fees from persisting, often leading to debt bondage.
NGOs like BRAC run outreach activities, providing critical support, offering rescue and repatriation, medical care, psychosocial counseling, life skills training, and financial assistance to survivors.
Despite these efforts, poverty, climate vulnerability, gender discrimination, social exclusion, illiteracy, and poor governance fuel trafficking.
The 2023 Global Slavery Index ranks Bangladesh ninth in Asia and 56th globally for modern slavery prevalence, highlighting the scale of the challenge.
Complex trial procedures and limited tribunal capacity discourage victims from seeking justice.
The 2025 WDATIP theme demands urgent action to disrupt trafficking networks.
What should we do?
Bangladesh, a source and transit hub for human trafficking, must go beyond rescue and repatriation.
It must tackle root causes: Providing climate-resilient livelihoods, education, and safe migration pathways.
Awareness must reach every char, village, and union. Returnees need jobs, training, and mental health support to avoid re-entering the cycle of risk.
Above all, survivors deserve dignity.
We must reframe our perspective. Victims are too often branded “illegal,” while traffickers, the true architects of organized crime, operate unchecked.
Unauthorized migration is a symptom of systemic failure, a lack of safe, dignified livelihood options at home.
The real crime lies with those who profit from misery.
Standing by the barbed wire, watching this family hold each other close, I could not shake the thought: This could be any child’s family. And unless we come together, quickly and with compassion, to stop the organized crime fueling this exploitation, countless more will suffer the same fate.
After all, No parent should ever have to risk their child’s life simply to survive.
Shaila Sharmin is a manager at BRAC Migration Program and a US Department of State Exchange Alumni.
