Trafficking of Women and Children from Bangladesh: An Examination of Current Trends and Legal Responses

Abstract

Human trafficking is the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, or receipt of people through force, fraud, or deception with the intention of exploiting them for financial gain. It is a widespread type of organized crime. It is an extensive and complex issue that influences enormous people worldwide, with disastrous physical, emotional, and psychological consequences for the victims. South Asia faces a significant risk of trafficking due to its substantial population and extensive rural-urban migration. Women and children are sold, traded, and exchanged for sexual slavery, prostitution, and bonded labor across borders in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Burma etc. Bangladesh is one of the countries that has been heavily affected by human trafficking. It is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children. The issue is getting worse because of the country’s socio-economic circumstances, which make it fertile ground for human traffickers to operate. The country is being made highly vulnerable due to its poverty, high population density, geopolitical location, and some other factors. It includes forced labor, sexual abuse, the slave trade, forced prostitution, organ removal, etc. This research offers an in-depth analysis of the organized criminal activity of human trafficking in Bangladesh. It examines the current trends, legal frameworks, and various forms of human trafficking, the factors fueling it, and the strategies that are being used to combat the crime.