The US State department has raised "serious concerns" regarding official complicity in human trafficking in Bangladesh, in a report released on Thursday.
It says Bangladesh is making significant efforts to eliminate human trafficking but does not fully meet the minimum standards, and victim care remains insufficient.
The report lists Myanmar, China, Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Russia, North Korea among the worst offenders or Tier 3 countries. Bangladesh has been listed as a Tier 2 Watch List country for the third consecutive year.
“Because the government has devoted significant resources to a written plan that, if implemented, would constitute significant efforts to meet the minimum standards, Bangladesh was granted a waiver from an otherwise required downgrade to Tier 3,” says the report.
The report lauds some government efforts to curb trafficking but also finds it lacking on several fronts.
“Some police took bribes and sexual favours to ignore potential trafficking crimes at brothels, and some labour attachés, local politicians, judges, and police requested bribes from victims and their families to pursue cases,” it says, adding, "Official complicity in human trafficking and impunity for offenders remained serious concerns."
It says women and girls who migrate for domestic work are particularly vulnerable to trafficking. Traffickers have sold some women who migrated through Bangladeshi recruitment agencies to Lebanon or Jordan for domestic work into forced labour and sex trafficking in Syria.
“Some Chinese men exploit Bangladeshi women in domestic servitude and sex trafficking through arranged marriages,” says the report.
Despite at least 100 credible reports of forced labour and sex trafficking of Rohingyas within Bangladesh, the government did not report investigating or prosecuting these potential crimes, and the Bangladesh High Court did not entertain anti-trafficking cases filed by Rohingyas, it says.
The report titled, 2019 Trafficking in Persons, was released by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo alongside adviser to the president Ivanka Trump.
“We must hold the perpetrators of this heinous crime accountable. There is no time to waste,” said Mr Pompeo.
As required by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, the TIP Report assesses government efforts around the world to combat human trafficking and highlights strategies to address this crime and protect the victims. This year’s report, the 19th installment, includes narratives for 187 countries and territories, including the United States.
An estimated 24.9 million people around the world are trapped by labor or sex trafficking. While human trafficking is largely seen as an international problem, the report shows 77 percent of victims are exploited in their own country. In some countries, human trafficking is state sponsored, says the report.
For Bangladesh, the report recommends significantly increasing prosecutions and convictions for trafficking offenses, particularly of labour traffickers and complicit government officials, while strictly respecting due process.