US embassy cable - 05DHAKA937

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 06 DHAKA 000937 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR G/TIP, G, INL, DRL, PRM, IWI, SA/RA, USAID, INL/CTR 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, KCRM, KWMN, SMIG, KFRD, ASEC, PREF, ELAB, BG, USAID 
SUBJECT: BANGLADESH ANNUAL ANTI-TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS 
(TIP) REPORT 
 
 
1. (U) This Anti-Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report will 
cover efforts by the Bangladesh Government (BDG) during the 
time period from March 2004-March 2005. Embassy point of 
contact is Political Officer Charlene Wang, telephone number 
880-2-885-5500 extension 2148, IVG post-code Dhaka #583, fax 
number 880-2-882-3744, email address wangcs@state.gov 
 
2. (SBU) Overview of the country's activities to eliminate 
trafficking in persons: 
 
A. Bangladesh is a country of origin and transit for women 
and children trafficked for the purposes of sexual 
exploitation, involuntary domestic servitude, and debt 
bondage. Women and children from Bangladesh are trafficked to 
India, Pakistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, and the United Arab 
Emirates (U.A.E.). A small number of women and girls are 
trafficked through Bangladesh from Burma to India. 
Bangladeshi boys are also trafficked into the U.A.E. and 
Qatar and forced to work as camel jockeys and beggars. Women 
and children from rural areas in Bangladesh are trafficked to 
urban centers for commercial sexual exploitation and domestic 
work. In an isolated and fairly inaccessible part of 
southwest Bangladesh known as, Dublar Char, a number of young 
boys are lured into foced servitude in the seasonal fish 
drying industry. 
 
B. Women and children in Bangladesh are trafficked from both 
urban and rural areas, predominantly from the border regions. 
 There is internal trafficking to urban centers as well as to 
other countries in the region, e.g. India and the Middle 
East, especially Bahrain, Kuwait, and Dubai. 
 
C. There have been no discernible changes in the direction or 
extent of trafficking. 
 
D. In February 2004, the Ministry of Women and Children 
Affairs released a comprehensive study, done in collaboration 
with the Norwegian Government through NORAD, International 
Organzation for Migration, and NGO,s, on &The Counter 
Trafficking Framework Report: Bangladesh Perspective.8 
 
E. Bangladesh is not a significant destination point for TIP 
victims. 
 
F. Traffickers target poor women and children, migrants, 
ethnic minorities, disaster victims, runaways, those with 
little education, those from broken homes, and women who are 
divorced, separated, or widowed. Traffickers frequently trick 
victims with a promise of a good job or a marriage proposal. 
Sometimes relatives or neighbors sell a person.  Abduction is 
less common, but it does occur.  Bangladesh has porous 
borders with India, and therefore it is not always necessary 
to produce official documents when moving victims. 
Nonetheless, there have been instances where traffickers were 
stopped at the airport attempting to smuggle children out of 
the country with false passports, claiming they were the 
victim's parents or posing as a victim,s husband. 
 
G. There is strong political will at the highest level of 
government to combat trafficking in persons. The government 
has made a good faith effort to attack trafficking with the 
newly-formed inter-ministerial anti-trafficking committee, 
which meets monthly, and the police anti-trafficking 
monitoring cell.  A willingness to take action against 
government officials linked to TIP has also been 
demonstrated.  Since June, there have been three court cases 
related to the complicity of 11 government officials.  In 
terms of prevention, the inter-ministerial anti-trafficking 
committee has devised a multi-faceted awareness building 
campaign which the Ministry of Information is executing 
through national television and radio.  The Ministry of 
Religious Affairs conducts training sessions and awareness 
talks for religious teachers, and the Bangladesh Rifles 
(Border Patrol) has integrated TIP awareness curriculum into 
their training center. 
 
In the area of protection, the government cooperates closely 
with a number of NGOs that aid trafficking victims. The 
Secretary for Home Affairs, along with selected members of 
 
SIPDIS 
the inter-ministerial anti-trafficking committee, meets with 
leaders from anti-trafficking NGO,s monthly.  In the past 
year, 21 trafficking victims rescued by Bangladesh security 
forces were turned over to NGO-run shelters. The government 
also runs several safe homes where trafficking victims can 
also stay. In the past year, the government has concentrated 
on the prosecution of trafficking cases. A Deputy Attorney 
General coordinates the government effort to monitor chosen 
batches of trafficking cases to ensure efficient trial and 
disposal.  Since last June 61 cases have been processed 
through this oversight. Each district also has a 
multi-sectored anti-TIP committee headed by the local deputy 
commissioner along with anti-trafficking committees at the 
Union, Upazilla, Parishad, and City Corporation levels. The 
newly formed anti-trafficking police monitoring cell not only 
compiles statistics and data regarding trafficking cases and 
victims, it helps produce witnesses for the appropriate cases. 
 
In addition to the central monitoring cell at the police 
headquarters in Dhaka, there are also 64 district level 
monitoring cells throughout the country. Additionally, 
Bangladesh took the initiative to introduce the South Asian 
Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Convention on 
Preventing and Combating Trafficking in Women and Children 
for Prostitution to the SAARC Countries in 1997. SAARC member 
countries signed the convention January 5, 2002, but have yet 
to ratify the convention. 
 
H. An undetermined number of authorities who come in contact 
with trafficking such as border guards and immigration 
officials are believed to have taken bribes from traffickers, 
usually in the context of facilitating illegal crossings not 
explicitly to help smuggle trafficking victims.  Since June 
2004, there have been three cases involving 11 government 
officials charged with document fraud to facilitate 
trafficking from passport offices and the Bureau of Manpower 
and Employment. 
 
I. Limitations of the government,s ability to address this 
problem at the local level are varied. Funding, training, and 
equipment for the police are woefully inadequate. The 
judicial system is hampered with a court backlog of about one 
million cases. One of the largest obstacles in addressing 
trafficking, however, is Bangladesh,s general problem of 
rampant and endemic corruption that affects police, 
prosecutors, local officials, and judges which in turn allows 
perpetrators to escape justice. Poor governance in general, 
coupled with high crime rates, plagues the Bangladeshi 
criminal justice system. On the whole, the government lacks 
the resources to aid victims comprehensively. 
 
J. Since June 2004, the government has begun to monitor 
systematically its anti-trafficking efforts in prosecution, 
prevention, and victim protection through data collection of 
the anti-trafficking police monitoring cell. These statistics 
are made available publicly and directly, and are widely 
shared with NGOs and others on a monthly basis. 
 
K. Prostitution is decriminalized in Bangladesh. The 
punishment for pimps is from 10 years imprisonment to life. 
The legal minimum age for prostitution is 18. 
 
3. (SBU) Prevention: 
 
A. Yes, the national government acknowledges that trafficking 
is a problem in Bangladesh, although it blames much of the 
problem on the Indian market's demand for trafficked women. 
 
B. Under the leadership of the Ministry of Home Affairs, 
numerous government agencies are involved in anti-trafficking 
efforts including: the Prime Minister,s Office, Ministry of 
Women and Children,s Affairs (MOWCA), Ministry of Law, 
Foreign Ministry, Ministry of Information, Ministry of Social 
Welfare, Ministry of Labor and Employment, NGO Affairs 
Bureau, Department of Local Government, Ministry of Religious 
Affairs, Ministry of Education, Civil Aviation Authority, 
Department of Immigration and Passports, ANSAR, Bangladesh 
Rifles (Border Patrol), Coast Guard, and the police. 
 
C. The government is implementing an extensive 
anti-trafficking public information educational campaign. The 
campaign involves many ministries.  The government-run 
national TV channel has aired a program with questions and 
answers about the trafficking situation in Bangladesh, 
another show where the laws and punishments were broadcast, 
and a short film that was intended to show the social impact 
of trafficking. State-owned radio devotes airtime to 
awareness on trafficking, including small dramas. The 
Ministry of Religious Affairs conducts training sessions and 
awareness raising talks for religious teachers for 
dissemination to their congregations, and the Bangladesh 
Rifles (Border Patrol) has integrated TIP awareness 
curriculum into their training center. The Ministry of Women 
and Children's Affairs has continued its program of "road 
marches" for awareness raising. 
 
D. The government gives stipends to girls attending secondary 
schools outside metropolitan areas, which increases female 
enrollment and reduces dropout rates. 
 
E. The government is supportive of prevention programs and 
actively participates in workshops, meetings, and awareness 
campaigns, but most funding comes from donors.  The 
government normally defers to NGOs for implementation. 
 
F. The government cooperates with NGOs and civil society 
groups that fight trafficking. The government bodies 
dedicated to anti-trafficking efforts meet regularly with 
NGOs and routinely refer trafficking victims to shelters run 
by NGOs.  NGO activists report greatly enhanced cooperation 
in 2004 from local and national officials. 
 
G. The government does not adequately monitor its borders. 
The number of guards patrolling the borders is insufficient, 
and corruption is a problem. We are not aware of any BDG 
policy or plan to monitor immigration and emigration patterns 
for evidence of trafficking. 
 
H. There are two government mechanisms for coordination and 
communication between various agencies: the inter-ministerial 
trafficking in persons committee at both the national and 
district levels which involves NGOs along with government 
agencies, and the Bangladesh Counter Trafficking Thematic 
Group, which is organized and run by NGOs and donor agencies 
and includes government participation.  A newly formed 
Anti-Corruption Commission has a legal mandate to investigate 
and prosecute corruption; however, it has serious internal 
problems and its ultimate impact is problematic. 
 
I. Although not in force, the government introduced an 
anti-trafficking convention for the South Asian Association 
for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). It also signed 
international instruments that can be used to combat 
trafficking including: CEDAW, Convention on the Rights of the 
Child (CRC), Optional Protocol to the CRC on the Sale of 
Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, and the 
ILO Convention 182 on the worst forms of child labor. 
 
J. The government does not have a national plan of action to 
address specifically trafficking in persons; however, it has 
adopted a National Plan of Action Against Sexual Abuse and 
Exploitation of Children, which includes trafficking, that 
the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs developed in 2002. 
 Additionally, the government has outlined a short-term plan 
to focus on reducing the court case backlog in their effort 
to combat trafficking in persons. 
 
K. Since June 2004, the Secretary of Home Affairs, one of the 
government,s most senior civil servants, has assumed the 
main leadership position in developing anti-trafficking 
programs within the government. 
 
4. (SBU) Investigation and Prosecution of Traffickers: 
 
A. The Repression of Women and Children Prevention Act 2000 
includes strict penalties, including life imprisonment or the 
death penalty for those convicted of trafficking for both 
sexual exploitation and non-sexual purposes. This law 
includes both internal and transnational forms of 
trafficking.  Other laws related to trafficking include the 
Penal Code, the Child Marriage Restraint Act, the Children 
Pledging and Labor Act, and the Suppression of Immoral 
Traffic Act. Trafficking related cases are tried in Special 
Tribunals created under the Repression of Women and Children 
Prevention Act. Besides the ability to try trafficking 
perpetrators in other countries which South Asian countries 
are trying to coordinate through South Asian Association for 
Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and increased regional 
cooperation, these laws adequately cover the full scope of 
trafficking in persons. 
 
B. Punitive sentences for trafficking are severe, ranging 
from 20 years imprisonment to life imprisonment or the death 
penalty. Since June 2004, 14 people have been given the death 
sentence and 43 have been given life imprisonment for 
trafficking. 
 
C. Penalities for rape or forcible sexual assault range from 
seven years in prison to life or death, depending on the 
nature of the case. The BDG has sentenced those convicted of 
trafficking to life imprisonment and death. 
 
D. The government has prosecuted a total of 70 cases since 
June 2004, with 46 cases ending in convictions.  Of those 46 
cases, 14 people have been given the death sentence and 59 
have been given life imprisonment. There are 21 cases under 
investigation but this number is constantly changing. 
Convicted traffickers do serve time. 
 
E. Because of the clandestine nature of trafficking, it is 
difficult to identify and track the organized networks 
involved or where profits from trafficking are channeled to. 
Expert sources confirm reports of organized trafficking 
networks, but the scope of the networks is not clear. Travel 
agencies, employment agencies, marriage brokers, and 
opportunists have all been cited as engaging in trafficking. 
There is anecdotal evidence connecting traffickers to rings 
that smuggle goods from India to Bangladesh.  Traffickers, 
however, do not appear to have the clout or the resources to 
obstruct the government,s anti-TIP actions at the national 
level. 
 
F. The government actively investigates cases of trafficking. 
 However, the police are understaffed, undertrained, and lack 
the necessary resources to carry out professional 
investigations or stage elaborate undercover operations. The 
police do not have the technical capacity to use special 
investigative techniques, such as electronic surveillance. 
There are no laws prohibiting covert operations, and there is 
room in the law for mitigated punishment for cooperating 
suspects.  Since June 2004 the Coast Guard has rescued over 
161 boys from their forced servitude in the fish drying 
industry in Dublar Char. 
 
G. Besides the integrated curriculum in the BDR training 
center, all specialized training for government officials 
regarding trafficking is done through NGOs. 
 
H. While the BDG does not systematically coordinate with 
other governments in the investigation and prosecution of 
trafficking cases, it does coordinate rescue and repatriation 
efforts. It states that the Indian government is unresponsive 
to requests for cooperation on trafficking cases. 
 
I.  The BDG has not extradited persons who are charged with 
trafficking in other countries. There is no constitutional 
provision that prohibits the extradition of Bangladeshi 
nationals. 
 
J. There is no evidence that the BDG is involved in or is 
tolerant of trafficking at the local or institutional level. 
 
K. There have been three cases against 11 government 
officials for involvement in trafficking-related corruption. 
None have been convicted yet as the trials are still pending. 
 
L. N/A 
 
M. In 1972, the BDG ratified ILO Convention 29 and 105 
regarding forced labor.  In 1989, it signed the Convention on 
the Rights of the Child (CRC), and in 2001 it ratified ILO 
Convention 182 concerning the prohibition and immediate 
action for the elimination of the worst forms of child labor. 
 The government has not signed the Protocol to Prevent, 
Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women 
and Children, supplementing the UN Convention Against 
Transnational Organized Crime. 
 
5. (SBU) Protection and Assistance to Victims 
 
A. The government supports a one-stop crisis center in two 
medical college hospitals that provides legal (through 
Bangladesh National Womens Laywer's Association (BNWLA)), 
medical, and psychological (through Naripoko) services to 
victims.  Primarily, however, the government works closely 
with NGOs that provide shelter and access to legal, medical, 
and psychological services for victims. Since June 2004, the 
government has returned 123 victims to their guardians, 
brought 21 to NGO run safe homes, and transferred 11 to 
government run safe homes.  Because Bangladesh is a source 
country and not a destination country for trafficking 
victims, there is no need for residency status or relief from 
deportation. 
 
B. The government is not directly funding any NGOs for 
services to victims, but has involved and coordinated their 
efforts for victim services with NGOs. 
 
C. There is not a formal referral process to transfer victims 
detained, arrested, or placed in protective custody by law 
enforcement authorities to NGOs that provide short or long 
term care.  However, in practice the courts regularly refer 
victims to NGO shelter homes. Even though in theory no victim 
should be sent to jail but instead placed in safe custody 
before being transferred to NGO shelter care or returned to 
guardian custody, sometimes the lack of police resources or 
facilities results in victims being kept where criminals are 
housed. Generally, the rights of victims are respected and, 
as a matter of policy and law, they are not detained, jailed, 
deported, or prosecuted for violations of immigration or 
prostitution laws. 
 
D. Various NGOs, including Bangladesh National Women's 
Laywer's Association (BNWLA), rather than the government, 
encourage and assist victims in filing civil suits and 
seeking legal action against traffickers. Victims can file 
civil suits against traffickers but it has not happened yet. 
If a victim is a material witness in a court case against the 
former employer, there is no legislation preventing the 
victim to obtain other employment or to leave the country. 
There is no victim restitution program. 
 
E. The government does not have a witness protection program. 
Various NGOs provide specialized training for government 
officials on how to provide assistance to trafficked victims, 
including the special needs of trafficked children. 
 
F. Mostly NGOs provide specialized training for government 
officials in recognizing trafficking and in providing 
assistance to trafficked victims, though the Bangladesh 
Rifles has begun to develop and offer its own specialized 
training. The government does not provide training on 
protection and assistance to its embassies and consulates in 
countries that are destination or transit countries. 
Recently, however, it agreed to start such a training program 
through a NGO.  The BDG facilitates linkages between 
Bangladeshi embassies and Bangladeshi NGOs on repatriation 
cases. 
 
G. The BDG cooperates closely with NGOs that provide medical, 
financial, shelter, and other services to repatriated victims 
of trafficking. 
 
H. The Bangladesh National Women,s Lawyers Association 
(BNWLA), Association for Community Development (ACD), Ahsania 
Mission, Rights Jessore, and Saviour Jessore provide shelter, 
food, education, vocational training, medical support, and 
counseling to trafficking victims. The BDG is very 
cooperative with these NGOs. 
 
THOMAS