Law Letter
Trafficking law should see the day light
Binoy Krishna Mallick
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Photo: mondo9.wordpress |
It is reported that an ominous power is involved in the plotting the enactment of the Human Trafficking Prevention and Suppression Law, 2011. The NGOs were evidently indicated as the ominous power, though the law is the long awaited outcome of one and half decades arduous anti trafficking movement of this 'ominous group'. Human trafficking is such organized crime which ranks right after illegal arms business. Every year thousands of poverty-stricken people get trafficked from one country to another being deceived of variety of forge proposals and ended up in indescribable wretches, which predispose them to human rights violation. The trafficked victims and their family undergo lot of miseries. Strategically human trafficking is divided into two forms- sex trafficking and labor trafficking. The United Nations Palermo protocol covers all forms of human trafficking since every kind of trafficking include deception, transportation, exploitation, torture and moreover gruesome violations of human rights.
In spite of decade long anti-trafficking movement by the civil society members and NGOs, victims of labour trafficking have been deprived of justice repeatedly due to some unscrupulous recruiting agents. They are incredibly powerful and purport to be above the law. Rights Jessore and homogenous NGOs have so many documents of this kind. There are gaps in the existing law, inadequate to some extent, therefore NGOs have been advocating to the government since a long time for formulating a comprehensive law against human trafficking in which mechanism will be to bring the God Fathers to book. It would be a milestone if the comprehensive law finally gets passed and subsequently enacted.
A report has recently claimed that due to insertion of few sections in the drafted law the remittance dropped down to10% from 40%. If it is true, why remittance fell down with the influence of a law which is awaiting amendment, shall we believe that most of the migrations have been taking place through illegitimate way as of yet and all the unscrupulous recruiting agents fled from the scene being scared of a unapproved law or problem is lying somewhere else, it seems difficult to discern the real situation. It is worth mentioning that "Stop trafficking and promote safe migration" is the slogan of the NGOs' anti trafficking movement. NGOs believe that migration is a human right, but that should be through an organized framework where there will be no deception, exploitation, torture and human rights would be protected. Who sends the real remittance a safely migrated worker or trafficked worker? Obviously a safe migrant. The true back stage scene is the unscrupulous recruiting agents are selling more than the issued number of visas by the original foreign employer and consequently the extra sold visa buying gullible people are eventually falling in grueling situation of exploitation.
Definition of human trafficking as envisaged in section 3 of the proposed enactment is very much in line with the UN given definition of human trafficking. If the main perpetrators can not be brought to the book, all efforts will be turned to be a fiasco. Section 21(2) has given power of searching to police authority on assumption. Search is always founded on assumptions, if all evidence and information are at hand searching is of no use. However a, man of integrity is not scared of search.
It seems that proposed law has pinned a specific group who have gone desperate to save their back. Some are anticipating that if the law gets approved recruiting agents will pack up their business, why? Doing business in an honest way is a civic right. Migration is a matter between two state government's recruiting agents is the facilitator. Business is the right but we should keep it in our mind that human being is not a commodity; they have the right to live a free life. Human rights are above everything. The proposed comprehensive human trafficking law should see the light of the day. If passed the law would be a breakthrough of getting justice of thousands of victims of recruitment fraud.
The writer is General Secretary & Executive Director, Rights Jessore.
