MIZAN RAHMAN

Caring for human trafficking victims
HUMAN trafficking remains a major concern for Bangladesh, despite the increasing social awareness about it. There are of course reasons to believe that of late such trafficking has come down, but that is certainly no cause for anyone to sit back in complacency. With fairly regular reports of the many travails Bangladeshis, especially women and children, go through at the hands of traffickers, the significance of how much more needs to be done to neuter the problem can hardly be over-emphasised. That much is certain. But with this broad issue of putting a stop to or preventing human trafficking comes another, namely, the requirement of special care for victims of such trafficking.
The launch of a training manual on care and support for human trafficking victims on Friday could not have come at a better time. Fundamentally, what it argues for (and it is something we agree with) is for a setting in place of all those parameters within which these victims of this vicious trade can be reintegrated in society. Given that ours is yet essentially a conservative society, it is indeed hard for victims of human trafficking to re-enter the social structure once they have found their way back from the clutches of their tormentors. Women who have found themselves trapped in insidious circumstances have always had the misfortune of becoming double victims. In the first place, their sufferings at the hands of traffickers strip them of the dignity they have always had as citizens. In the second, when they are able to free themselves of such bondage, for so it is, they find that they are now the victims of a society which considers their misfortune as a stigma on their future. It is particularly in the rural regions, where conservative trends yet run deep, that these victims, generally women, find themselves ostracised from the rest of society. It is negativism such as this which must be addressed.
By and large, victims of human trafficking have been rescued by the law enforcing agencies as well as human rights groups in Bangladesh. It is therefore important that these bodies be in the forefront of the rehabilitation programme, through devising schemes aimed at assisting the victims. This can be done through engaging victims in work that will help them fend for themselves economically.
The onus is on all of us to ensure that victims of trafficking can return to a decent, purposeful life. The trauma they are put to must not be ignored. A society that does not care for its more unfortunate members is in danger of turning into a symbol of insensitivity.