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End human trafficking law misuse: Recruiters

Staff Correspondent
20 Oct 2021 00:00:00 | Update: 20 Oct 2021 01:00:27
End human trafficking law misuse: Recruiters
Anisul Islam Mahmud, Chairman of Parliamentary Standing Committee on expatriates welfare ministry, speaks at a discussion at Banani’s Sheraton Hotel on Tuesday– Rajib Dhar

Overseas recruiting agents at a discussion on Tuesday called for ending the misuse of the human trafficking law against them.

Recruiting Agencies Welfare Organization of Bangladesh (RAWOB), a platform of Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) members, organised the discussion at Banani’s Sheraton Hotel in the capital.

Recruiters said that if any recruiting agent is found guilty, they should be brought to book under the Overseas Employment and Migration Act instead of the Prevention and Suppression of Human Trafficking Act.

Anisul Islam Mahmud, Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment, attending the event as the chief guest, said recruiting agents have a huge contribution to the country’s development.

“Anyone misusing the trafficking law and harassing recruiting agents should be punished,” he said.

BAIRA members demanded the government to find a way in an inter-ministerial meeting that would take place on October 21. They demanded an amendment to sections that gave police the scope to ‘harass’ them.

Some senior members of BAIRA also demanded an executive order not to arrest anyone under the trafficking act until the issue was addressed.

Immediate past president of BAIRA and also Member of the Parliament Benzir Ahmed said that manpower export became challenging for agencies for trafficking act. Agents feel discouraged to send people abroad.

Unique Group Managing Director Mohd Noor Ali, also a former president of BAIRA, said the BAIRA and Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) should educate the law enforcement agencies so that they don’t misuse the trafficking law against recruiters.

He said that recruiting agents should be supervised by the migration-related government agency, BMET and the ministry concerned, not the police.

He said if any error occurred in the migration process, the first step should be a negotiation to fix the issue, secondly arbitration via BMET and finally case because nine government agencies were involved in the migration process.

Shameem Haider Patwary, the chairperson of Bangladesh Parliamentarians’ Caucus on Migration and Development, said that misuse of trafficking law against recruiters was unacceptable but it could not be denied that no recruiting agent was involved with the crime.

“A separate law cannot be formulated for the same crime (i.e. human trafficking). Any recruiting agency getting involved in human trafficking should be punished,” he said.

BMET Director General Md Shahidul Alam said that scrapping the trafficking act was not practical for the government. But you may demand to be tried under the migration act.

He said the qualification to be a recruiting agent should be improved to ensure only the qualified people get licences and come to this profession.

He said that BMET gave the license for migration, not illegal activities like human trafficking. He said that if it could be made mandatory for police to get earlier clearance from BMET for filing any case against any recruiting agency, the misuse could be reduced.

RAWOB President Mohammed Fakhrul Islam gave a PowerPoint presentation and claimed that misinformation about manpower exporters was spreading, damaging the country’s image and bilateral relationship with destination countries.

DU Professor and also chairperson of the Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU) Tasneem Siddiqui said that 99 per cent of recruiting agencies were not involved with trafficking but it cannot be denied that some recruiting agents were involved with the crime.

She suggested the agents to strengthen the BAIRA so that it can negotiate with the government efficiently. “Make your own image. Practice ethical recruitment and set good examples to get dignity,” she said.

Former secretary-general of BAIRA

 

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