‘Climate change increases human trafficking risks in BD’
25 January 2023
Staff Reporter :
Human trafficking has increased in Bangladesh and the Philippines after millions of people were displaced by devastating natural disasters like cyclones and typhoons, a major concern for climate change.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) on Tuesday said this while launching the 'Global Report on Trafficking in Persons' in Austria's Vienna.
According to the report, trafficking in persons has been commonly detected in the Sundarbans - the world's largest contiguous mangrove forest. Situated at the border between India and Bangladesh, it is considered a hotspot for climate change-related catastrophes.
In the Bangladesh Sundarbans, damage to property and crop failures during frequent floods and
cyclones has pushed a large section of the population (43 per cent) below the national poverty line in 2014, the report said.
Forced and debt-bonded labour has been documented in fisheries and factories in the region, which often employ children as part of their workforce.
The prevalence of these exploitative practices show that traffickers take advantage of the economic need of the population who struggle to cope with reduced access to income-generating activities.
The significant number of vulnerable individuals in this disaster-prone region allows traffickers to organize large recruitment campaigns. They operate as both private businesses and more complex criminal networks that traffic people internationally.
Furthermore, those who migrate from disaster-affected areas to Dhaka or Kolkata in search of better living conditions can find themselves with no resources or social networks, making them vulnerable to be targeted by recruitment agents who trap them in exploitative bonded labour schemes.
Cross Border Trafficking of South Asian Victims committed by South Asian Offenders :
In countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council and Western and Southern Europe, South Asian offenders were convicted of trafficking of co-nationals, for various exploitative purposes.
