By Aroussa Hafeez

Keeping an eye on history, thanks in part to India for Bangladesh separation from Pakistan in 1971. Ever since, ties between India and Bangladesh have been close by. Bangladesh-India diplomatic ties were not developed because of their geographical proximity but because of their historical link starting from Liberation war between Bangladesh and Pakistan. As India and Pakistan are old rivals and the main ally of Bangladesh (then-East Pakistan) during Liberation war was India. At the present day, South Asian neighbours are passing through critical diplomatic courses and in many ways India is responsible for it. There also seems reduction of the warmth between India and Bangladesh.  India’s hegemony policy over Bangladesh through their apparent friendly relations because of their own interests, is very wrong perception since no government ignoring their country’s benefit would be able to continue relations in this way. Many Bengalis also see India as a patronising and presumptuous ally. After the independence, Bangladesh expected that the bond with India would be strengthened with time span but interestingly, during this long period of ties after independence, India successfully obtained its interests from Bangladesh.

India has been linked with women trafficking in Bangladesh since long. Bengali women and teenage girls trafficking has gone to an acute condition. Trafficking is conducted as a commercial venture, governed by demand and supply and this nexus between demand and supply actors forms the chain. It includes the transportation of women within or across borders of the country for work or service by means of threats, violence, deception or other forms of coercion and is carried out in alliance with Indian groups, who belong to international organized crime groups. These women trafficking groups operate in various cities of India who lure women and young girls with promises of lucrative jobs and some are kidnaped but later ends in forced women trade to Indian cities.

While there are no official figures on trafficking, activists say thousands of young Bangladeshi girls are kidnaped and smuggled to India. Although exact figures of women trafficking vary widely, the consensus is that the trafficking problem is growing rapidly. According to an estimate, 50,000 Bangladeshi girls are trafficked to or through India every year. A study sponsored by UNESCO, conducted early in 2000 disclosed that some 30,000 women were taken from Bangladesh and sold over the last decade. But the actual figure is probably higher than official figures, because many cases are not reported.

Another study by the BIPSS revealed that around 50,000 Bangladeshi girls and women are trafficked to or through India every year. Sometimes families residing near border areas are manipulated into sending their daughters away for work, unaware that this eventually leads to them becoming subjected to force trading. Infiltration is relatively easy in these areas because of the irregular nature of border. A little over 500,000 women, including Rohingya girls, have been trafficked during the last decade from Bangladesh into West Bengal, turning the state into the world’s worst human trafficking zone. According to United Nations and aid agencies trafficking in Bangladesh refugee camps has gotten worse with the recent influx of more than 620,000 Rohingya.

There is little enforcement of the existing laws of Bangladesh on trafficking control. Bangladesh government adopted anti-trafficking law, “The Human Trafficking Deterrence and Suppression Act, 2012.” This Act generally prohibits and punishes all forms of human trafficking, though it does not completely prohibit the fraudulent recruitment of migrants. The new law superseded sections of the Repression of Women and Children Act of 2000 (amended in 2003), which had prohibited the trafficking of women and children for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation or involuntary slavery. Despite the existence of legislation intended to extend such protection, many are not aware of or able to access protection. Trafficking cases are not registered and the number of women and young girls are identified as missing. The wide-ranging infiltration borders between Bangladesh and India are conducive to the trafficking. Official procedures for exiting and entering between India and Bangladesh are rarely enforced and there is no specific legislation addressing cross border trafficking therefore women and young girls are trafficked almost every week from Bangladesh to India.

What is extremely depressing is the way the women are trafficked in regular intervals throughout night and herded like goats. Bangladeshi women are usually stuck in India because of their status as illegal immigrants. As a result, these women are totally dependent on the traffickers for protection from police. Women and girls who migrate for domestic work are particularly vulnerable to abuse. In many cases, young women are often tricked, manipulated, abducted or coerced into domestic work, forced marriages and forced trading of other girls.

Bangladesh governments, though endowed huge effort, failed evidently to control the trafficking in persons in the country.The absence of a clear authority to identify victims of trafficking is also one of the major pitfall in the fight against women trafficking and thus result in exposing women to violence and denying them access to justice.

Trafficking is a grave concern for human rights and security in Bangladesh hence it requires a great deal of attention and actions. To break the trafficking network and to reduce the volume of trafficking Bangladesh is required to strengthen border control particularly in the trafficking hotspot areas linked with India. In the concrete, women and teenage girls trafficking is the darkest episode of population mobility, which is a major human security issue and should be addressed by world. World Human right organizations and activists should take a clear and bold stance on women trafficking done by criminal groups of India involved in trafficking.