Bangladesh became independent with this problem.

Urgency to fulfill basic necessities

compelled people to go outside the country. From the period of liberation there are many
enclaves on border with India. There are 111 Indian enclaves in Bangladesh and 51 enclaves of
Bangladesh in India. Research by BNWLA has shown that these enclaves are have been used by
traffickers as recruitment and collection sites and influence the happening.(ICDDR,B,2001). It is
said that trafficking got a fresh start with all potential in early 50s when Camel Race and use of
children as Jockey gained momentum in the Middle-East countries ( Rahman:2004).
The UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons defines trafficking as
follows:
Trafficking in persons shall mean the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or
receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of
abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the
giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control
over another person for the purpose of exploitation.
On the South Asian regional level, trafficking has also been defined as the moving, selling or
buying of women and children for prostitution within and outside a country for monetary or
other considerations with or without the consent of the person subjected to trafficking. The
Bangladesh Counter Trafficking Thematic Group led by the Ministry of Women and Children
Affairs has developed a working definition specific to Bangladesh that identifies trafficking in
persons as a situation where a person no longer has control over some elements of their life for a
given period of time. The elements involve:
The type of work they do (their livelihood);
The work environment and the working conditions;
Freedom of movement in the context of this work situation.
Bangladesh, a small developing country of South Asia, contains the seventh largest population in
the world. In 2011, its population stood at 158.5 million.12 Limited natural resources,
underdeveloped industrialization along with natural disasters such as floods, droughts and
cyclones cursed the population mobility and human trafficking is one of the inadvertent
consequences thereof. However, trafficking is getting in an acute condition in Bangladesh.
Although exact figures on the scope of the problem vary widely, the consensus is that the
trafficking problem is growing rapidly. Though the history of women and child trafficking from
Bangladesh goes back to the early 50's when camel race and 'jockey' gained momentum in the
Middle East countries, in the course of time, this criminal business has taken an alarming
proportion, women and children are being trafficked out of Bangladesh to various countries
predominantly in India, Pakistan and the Middle Eastern countries.

In terms of modus operandi, there are two types of trafficking in persons that occur in
Bangladesh:
internal trafficking and international trafficking.
A. Internal Trafficking:
Bangladeshi children and adults are trafficked internally for commercial sexual exploitation,
domestic servitude, and forced and bonded labor, including forced begging. In some instances,
children are sold into bondage by their parents, while others are induced into labor or
commercial sexual exploitation through fraud and physical coercion. Girls and boys as young as
eight years old are subjected to forced prostitution within the country, living in slave-like
conditions in secluded environments. Trafficking occurs throughout the country, and the
vulnerable poor are trafficked from poorer rural regions to cities.
B. International Trafficking:
Internationally, women and children from Bangladesh are trafficked to India and Pakistan for
commercial sexual exploitation or forced labor. Some Rohingyan refugees from Burma have
been subjected to human trafficking in Bangladesh. Many brothel owners and pimps coerce
Bangladeshi girls to take steroids to make them more attractive to clients, with devastating side
effects; the drug is reported to be used by 90 percent of girls and women between the ages of 15

and 35 in Bangladeshi brothels. In 2012, nine South African labor-trafficking victims were found
in Bangladesh.