Stressing on the need of cooperation between Bangladesh and India for combating human trafficking, speakers at a conference called for formation of cross border network with the organisations working in both the countries to halt the crime, says press release.

Cross border trafficking, especially women and child trafficking is on the rise though concerted efforts have been made at different levels, they said.      

“Cross border human trafficking issue particularly rescue and repatriation of trafficking survivors is presently being guided by the Standard Operational Procedures (SOP) on repatriation of trafficked women and children between Bangladesh and India”.  

In 2015, Bangladesh has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with India on bilateral cooperation on prevention of trafficking especially women and children, they said.

They added that, under the MoU, Bangladesh and India have formed national task force on Rescue, Recovery, Repatriation and Integration (RRRI) to implement and monitor the SOP.

But there are some gaps and drawbacks regarding the implementation of the SOP. These are: absence of database system, flow of cross border human mobility, absence of case management system regarding integration, weakness in coordination among both the countries’ RRRI task forces, and lengthy repatriation process of trafficked victims, they said.             

They made the remarks while addressing the Annual Cross-Border Conference on ‘Monitoring Progress in Bilateral Arrangements between India and Bangladesh to Combat Child Trafficking’ at CIRDAP auditorium in the capital yesterday.

INCIDIN Bangladesh, on behalf of Prevention of Child Trafficking through Strengthening Community and Networking (PCTSCN) project, organized the programme supported by TdH-Netherlands.

Kazi Reazul Haque, Chairman of National Human Rights Commission of Bangladesh, attended as the chief guest at the opening ceremony.

The inaugural programme was chaired by Ferdousi Akhtar, Joint Secretary of Ministry of Home Affairs of Bangladesh.

Zinath Ara, Deputy Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, Gaziuddin Mohammad Munir, Deputy Secretary, Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, Manabendra Nath Mandal, Executive Director, SLARTC & Coordinator ATSEC India, and Mahmudul Kabir, Country Director of TdH-Netherlands, addressed the function.

Md Shamsur Rahman, Additional Secretary (Political & ICT), Public Security Division, Ministry of Home Affairs, attended as the chief guest at the closing session.

Lisbeth Zonneveld, Chief of Party, Winrock International, AKM Masud Ali, Executive Director of INCIDIN Bangladesh, also spoke.

Representatives from different NGOs from Bangladesh and seven NGO activists from India took part in the programme.  A number of keynote papers were presented at different sessions of the event.