Govt to be strict against human traffickers: Home Ministry
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Manjur Morshed Chowdhury, Senior Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs, said that human trafficking and migrant smuggling has become a global problem. For that, the Prevention and Suppression of Human Trafficking Act, 2012 has been amended. He said that crimes like online fraud, scamming and extortion have been brought under the purview of this law.
In the speech of the chief guest, the Home Secretary urged that not only strict laws are not enough to prevent human trafficking, but media should play a strong role in creating public awareness. He said that the government will take strict action against human traffickers. Besides, special importance will be given to the protection and rights of the victims.
He said this at a workshop titled ‘Prevention and Suppression of Human Trafficking and Migrant Smuggling Act-2026’ at Sirdap Auditorium in the capital on Thursday. The law was passed by Parliament last April.
Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs Ziauddin Ahmed, Joint Secretary of the same Ministry Rebecca Khan, Deputy Secretary Minara Nazmin also spoke at the workshop on the initiative of the Ministry of Home Affairs and in collaboration with ‘Justice and Care’. Mohammad Tariqul Islam, Country Director of Justice and Care presented the keynote at the workshop.
It was informed in the workshop that the investigation agency has been strengthened by taking into account the nature and magnitude of the crime of human trafficking through this new law. The Act includes groundbreaking provisions such as freezing of bank accounts, attachment of assets and trial in absentia. Apart from this, passport or visa forgery for the purpose of migrant smuggling has also been treated as a severely punishable offence.
Ziauddin Ahmed, additional secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs, said that people did not know much about the 2012 Act. It is important to inform people about the new law, so that people are aware. The government is determined to implement the new law.
In the original article, Tariqul Islam said that the 2012 law did not properly differentiate between human trafficking and migrant smuggling. The new law defines these two as separate offences. He said, through the new law, financial accountability of the criminals and speedy justice to the victims can be ensured.
Speakers at the workshop hope that through proper implementation and widespread publicity of this law, the tendency to travel abroad illegally will decrease. It will be possible to root out the cycle of human trafficking.
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