The New Nation - Internet Edition

BSS, Dhaka

The daunting poverty in south Asia has been identified the root cause for trafficking an estimated 2,25,000 people every year from the region, most of whom end up as sex workers or forced laborers, anti-trafficking campaigners said on Saturday.

Among the eight countries of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), Bangladesh and Nepal are mostly the countries of origin of illegal women and child trafficking aged under 25 years, said the campaigners at a seminar in the city.

A number of activists from India, Nepal and Bangladesh took part in the seminar, where Women Affairs Secretary Rokeya Sultana, Indian human rights activist Aloka Mitra and legal expert Manbendra Mandal, among others, spoke.

They said India being the largest country of the region and emerging world economy sending and receiving country as well as a transit point for human trafficking.

An estimated between 10,000 and 20,000 people are being trafficked every year from Bangladesh, but UN children fund in Dhaka says that approximately 400 women and children fall victim of trafficking every month.

Dhaka Ahsania Mission (DAM), an NGO that implemented a three- year awareness project in bordering areas of Jessore and Satkhira, said acute poverty and illiteracy were found to be some of the factors leading to sexual exploitation of young Bangladeshi girls. The prevailing socio-economic and geographical conditions provide a fertile ground for human traffickers in Bangladesh, a home to 140 million people, said DAM, claiming that it has made 40,000 families aware and provided shelter, psychological counseling, food and clothing, basic education and training to 17 rescued victims.

The programme, according to DAM, has helped girls to learn reproductive health, nutrition, hygiene, HIV/AIDS prevention, as well as reading, writing, critical thinking and problem-solving skills. School children have also learnt skills to help their families change economic conditions and understand traffickers' ploy, trap young girls through false employment promises.

"Fencing along borders proved to be ineffective to check human trafficking as things happened in connivance between border guards and human traders," said Aloka Mitra, urging SAARC to take steps to ease formal migration.

She also observed that the people of poorer neighbors would naturally move to other neighbors having better economic opportunities.

Rokey Sultana said the severity of women and child trafficking has eased in recent years due to different steps taken by Bangladesh. She said further steps are underway to protect hundreds from such a problem.