Kurratul Ayin*

Jahid Hossain Dolon*

Human Trafficking Risks and reasons for Refugees; Focus on Rohingya Refugees in

Bangladesh

Abstract

Refugees are at particular risk for human trafficking – a consequence of their vulnerable status,

the devastating losses they have experienced, and their unstable life situations continue until

durable solutions became available. Trafficking risk for refugees are at ever increasing levels

worldwide, said United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. This paper will represents an

overview of both the reason and risk for Rohingya refugees in human trafficking with constant

and emerging facts contributing to the risk. This paper will also offer policy and practice

recommendations for risk reduction. Refugees are treated as commodities in the political

negotiations between nation states, unwelcome wherever they land after desperate flight. They

are robbed of individuality in discourse and practice. As a subject within the broader flow of

human migration, refugees are subject to dehumanizing practices in border enforcement, refugee

camp management, labor, and domestic enforcement practices intended to discourage migration

and restrict migrant rights. The distinctive protection challenges and risks that people face as

refugees are vulnerability factors for human trafficking. Day by day, instead of reducing that

phenomenon, increased refugees’ vulnerabilities by frustrating their protection problems and

arguably put them at even higher risk of falling into the hands of traffickers.

I Introduction

According to the 1951 United Nations Convention relating to the status of Refugees and its 1967

Protocol, a refugee is defined as “a person outside of his or her country of nationality who is

unable or unwilling to return because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on

account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political

opinion”1 This legal definition is important for determining who is eligible for international

*Sr. Lecturer, Department of Law, Stamford university Bangladesh

1 The 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugee. See also the 1967 Protocol, removing geographic and

temporal restrictions from the Convention. 147 states are party to one and both instruments.

protection under the United Nations mandate. In common usage, however, other people who are

forcibly displaced within their own countries, as well as those fleeing natural disasters, famine,

conflict, and many other reasons are also referred to as refugees. The United Nations High

Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that there are more than 15 million refugees

worldwide. The UNHCR is mandated to provide relief, assistance, legal and physical protection,

until durable solutions is found. A primary role for the UNHCR is to ensure that refugees are not

subject to refoulement, or return to the country in which they fear persecution.2 The principle of

non-refoulement prohibiting governments from forcibly returning refugees subject to torture or

death upon repatriation.3 The flexible refugee convention and the protocol…..

The three durable solutions for refugees are voluntary repatriation, local integration and third

country resettlement. Voluntary repatriation occurs when refugees choose to return their country

of origin and are able to do so in conditions of safety and dignity. This solution is generally the

one most desired by refugees themselves and is the favored option when conditions permit.

Local integration occurs when the country of asylum provides permanent residency of refugees,

with rights and opportunities comparable to nationals of the country. And third country

resettlement- which is offered to only a tiny percentage of the world refugees- is when refugees

are transferred from the country of asylum to a third country willing to admit them on a

permanent basis.

II Human trafficking

According to the United Nations Trafficking Protocol4, "Trafficking in persons" shall mean the

recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or

use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of

power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to

achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of

2 Role of UNHCR, [www.unhcr.org/49eecf142.html, last access 02 July, 2015].

3 In 1977, the UNHCR extended the principle of non-refoulement to include those subject to persecution if return to

their country of origin, irrespective of whether they have been granted formal recognition as refugee.

4 Art. 3, Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons Especially Women and Children,

Supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, 2000.

exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of

others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices

similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs.

According to the Budapest Group,

“In accordance with the definitions of Europol and Interpol, the concepts of trafficking in

and smuggling of persons are distinguished from each other…shortly, trafficking in persons

comprises of, in addition to facilitation of the border crossing, a form of exploitations and, thus,

profit, gained from the business are double. Either border crossing or stay is illegal. Both

trafficking in and smuggling of persons are organized by clandestine criminal groups, which are

also involved in other types of organized criminality. The structures of these groups vary greatly

from loose amateur groups to international structured organizations.” 5

In terms of refugee protection, the two protocols present great opportunities. For the first time

since the 1951 Convention, the fact that refugees need to use traffickers/smugglers is being

highlighted in international treaty. It is to the credit of UNHCR, HCHR and the NGO caucus

against Trafficking that the specific human rights of refugees have been put on the agenda. The

1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees is mentioned in both protocols, however there are

still great weakness in ensuring refugee protection and these will be discussed below;

The main innovation of the Vienna process is the distinction that it marks out between trafficking

and smuggling. The two categories of people that this creates are defined by the protocols as;

Victim of trafficking: someone who has been compelled in some way into being

transported for the purpose of involving them in an exploitative practice.

Victim of smuggling: someone who has requested assistance in order that they can

illegally procure entry into a state where they have no right of residence. The

arrangement with the smuggler goes no further than procuring entry.

5 Secretariat of the Budapest Group (1999), The relationship between organized crime and trafficking in aliens,

International Center for Immigration Policy and Development (ICMPD), Vienna, June 1999.

III Vulnerable Groups in Human Trafficking6

Refugees are more likely to be smuggled than trafficked.7 However, there are instances where

refugees can become involved with traffickers, or indeed, where involvement in the trafficking

process can give rise to an asylum claim. There are three major examples of how this can

happen:

-Much research into trafficking highlights how traffickers target vulnerable groups. Refugees in

camps are an obvious group, especially as 80% of refugees are women and children. Research

has been shown, where young refugee women have been abducted from refugee camps by the

members of organized crime syndicates, with the objective of forcing them into prostitution in

another country.

-The reality of the limited options for flight means that some refugees will have to take any

option available to them. Engaging the services of a trafficker as opposed to a smuggler, whether

knowingly or not may be the only option. This may happen at the outset of the journey or part

way through in a transit country.

-The final example relates to whether victims trafficking can qualify for refugee status on the

grounds of the persecution inherent in trafficking. The area where this is most likely to be the

case is concerning women trafficked into forced prostitution where persecution can be

determined on the basis of their membership of a social group.

The fact therefore, that refugees can be both smuggled and trafficked underlines the need to

ensure that adequate refugee protection is built into both protocols. Trafficking and smuggling

process relates stage by stage itself and the human rights abuses which are widespread to all of

them. The stages can be identified as follows:

- Entrance into the process

- The journey, whether within or across national boundaries

- Arrivals

- Interruption; intervention at any stage be state authorities

6 John Morrison & Beth Crosland, The Trafficking and Smuggling of Refugees: the End Game in European Asylum

Policy?, ed.( UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 2001), Pp.72-3. ISSN 1020-7473.

7 J. Morrison (1998), The Cost of the Trafficking of Refugees to the UK, The British Refugee Council, London.

Entrance into the Process8

Understanding the reasons why people become involved in trafficking/smuggling are of the

utmost importance for governments if they are to develop effective legislation and policies to

combat it. The causes behind entrance into the process also determine whether someone will be

considered as trafficked or smuggled. Particular action therefore needs to be given to this stage

of the process. Trafficked people, according to the protocol are transported against their will to

engage in practices to which they have not consented. They therefore, do not seek out the

services of traffickers. In contrast, the definition of smuggling, in the smuggling protocol,

focuses on intentional procurement for profit of illegal entry.9

The grave human rights abuses, which force people into trafficking, are well documented and

accepted by NGOs and governments alike. They clearly demonstrate that victims need extra

protection and support. The violations, particularly of economic and social rights which propel

many migrants into the smuggling process, are well documented in many instances, but rarely

given due concern by governments.

Neither trafficking nor smuggling can be properly explained unless the pull as well as the push

factors sustaining the process are explored and understood. There are powerful interest groups

sustaining the process and their part in perpetuating many of the human rights abuses associated

with trafficking or smuggling needs to be addressed.

The Journey10

Victims of Trafficking and smuggling may suffer human rights abuses during their journey,

which may or may not be across an international border. Migrants are also often not informed or

are misled as to how they will be transported and if the journey involves crossing a national

border, the method in which this will be carried out. Even if a person has consented to the

process and the problems, both protocols only refer to organized crime and so implicit in any

8 John Morrison & Beth Crosland, Ibid.

9 At the eighth session of the drafting process there were discussion around deleting the wording ‘for profit’. This

move was successfully opposed by UNHCR and several governments on the grounds that its deleting would risk

penalizing organizations motivated by humanitarian concerns when helping those fleeing from persecution and

violence.

10 John Morrison & Beth Crosland, Ibid.

situation is the power relationship between the agent and the subject. In extreme cases

transportation may amount slavery, in that the agent exerts powers of ownership over the victim,

at the very least the migrant is dependent on the agent to complete the journey. The case for

including a protection principle within the smuggling protocol is obvious. Smuggled in an

irregular situation are especially vulnerable to the whims of their agents, who are aware that their

illegal status renders them less likely to gain state protection, should the process be interrupted or

should they voluntarily seek protection.

Arrival11

The exploitative practices into which victims of trafficking are pushed on arrival at their

destination are well documented by human rights groups. The Special Reporter on Violence

against Women has reported,

“Women find themselves living under slavery-like conditions not only as prostitutes, but

also as domestic and factory workers, and in forced marriages. Employer often illegally

confines these women, confiscate their passports and identification, and force them to

work excessive hours and under inhuman conditions. They often beat and rape them, and

withhold their wages until the ‘debt’ of their recruitment is paid off. Meanwhile, the

threat of reprisals and the lack of identity papers prevent many of them from being able to

escape the abuse.”12

The special report on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography has

identified the following main practices for which children are trafficked or sold: adoption,

begging, armed conflict, sports, marriage, prostitution, pornography and trafficking in organs.

III Reasons of Human Trafficking13

The root causes of trafficking are various and often differ from one country to another.

Trafficking is a complex phenomenon that is often driven or influenced by social, economic,

cultural and other factors. Many of these factors are specific to individual trafficking patterns and

11

John Morrison & Beth Crosland, Ibid.

12 R. Commarawamy op.cit., Keynote Speech.

13 The root causes of Human Trafficking, [https://www.unodc.org/documents/human-trafficking/Toolkit-files/08-

58296_tool_9-2.pdf].

to the States in which they occur. There are, however, many factors that tend to be common to

trafficking in general or found in a wide range of different regions, patterns or cases. One such

factor is that the desire of potential victims to migrate is exploited by offenders to recruit and

gain initial control or cooperation, only to be replaced by more coercive measures once the

victims have been moved to another State or region of the country, which may not always be the

one to which they had intended to migrate. Some of the common factors are local conditions that

make populations want to migrate in search of better conditions: poverty, oppression, lack of

human rights, lack of social or economic opportunity, dangers from conflict or instability and

similar conditions. Political instability, militarism, civil unrest, internal armed conflict and

natural disasters may result in an increase in trafficking. The destabilization and displacement of

populations increase their vulnerability to exploitation and abuse through trafficking and forced

labour. War and civil strife may lead to massive displacements of populations, leaving orphans

and street children extremely vulnerable to trafficking. These factors tend to exert pressures on

victims that “push” them into migration and hence into the control of traffickers, but other

factors that tend to “pull” potential victims can also be significant. Poverty and wealth are

relative concepts which lead to both migration and trafficking patterns in which victims move

from conditions of extreme poverty to conditions of less-extreme poverty. In that context, the

rapid expansion of broadcast and telecommunication media, including the Internet, across the

developing world may have increased the desire to migrate to developed countries and, with it,

the vulnerability of would-be migrants to traffickers. In some States, social or cultural practices

also contribute to trafficking. For example, the devaluation of women and girls in a society

makes them disproportionately vulnerable to trafficking. Added to these factors are the issues of

porous borders, corrupt Government officials, the involvement of international organized

criminal groups or networks and limited capacity of or commitment by immigration and law

enforcement officers to control borders. Lack of adequate legislation and of political will and

commitment to enforce existing legislation or mandates are other factors that facilitate trafficking

in persons.14

Trafficking most frequently occurs in societies where women lack property rights, cannot inherit

land, and do not enjoy equal protection under the law. In Asia, especially in Bangladesh there has been a

growth in the migration of women for domestic work (sometimes called the maid trade);

14

The Root Causes of Human Trafficking. Ibid.

organized migration for marriage (sometimes referred to as mail order brides), and the trafficking

of women into the sex industry.15

In response to the above root causes, most prevention strategies fall within one of the following

categories: �

Reducing the vulnerability of potential victims through social and economic development

Discouraging the demand for the services of trafficked persons �

Public education �

Border control �

Preventing the corruption of public officials

IV Reasons why Refugees are more Vulnerable Victim in Trafficking

Globalization, economic crises, political instability, conflicts, civil wars, ethnic cleanings, social

inequality, the development of market economy, gender discrimination, the wider processes of

transformation, especially this last ten years, made a solid soil for huge wave of migration in the

world, and for its mutated form– trafficking in human beings.16

The International Labor

Organization estimates that there are 20.9 million victims of human trafficking globally, with

hundreds of thousands in the United States. The victims of this crime in the U.S. are men and

women, adults and children, and foreign nationals and U.S. citizens. As defined by U.S.

law, victims of human trafficking can be divided into three populations:

Children under the age of 18 induced into commercial sex

Adults (age 18 or over) induced into commercial sex through force, fraud, or coercion

Children and adults induced to perform labor or services through force, fraud, or coercion

Human trafficking victims have been identified in cities, suburbs, and rural areas in all 50 states,

and in Washington, D.C. They are made to work or provide commercial sex against their will in

legal and legitimate business settings as well as underground markets. Some victims are hidden

15

Khalid Koser, International Migration: A Very Short Introduction, ed. (New York: Oxford University Press Inc.,

2007), p.7

16 Petrevski Blagojce, Theory of Pull and Push Factors: A New Way to Explaining the Old,

[https://www.academia.edu/2163849/Theory_of_push_and_pull_factors_A_new_way_of_explaining_the_old]

behind locked doors in brothels and factories. In other cases, victims are in plain view and may

interact with community members, but the widespread lack of awareness and understanding of

trafficking leads to low levels of victim identification by the people who most often encounter

them.17

There is no single profile for trafficking victims; trafficking occurs to adults and minors in rural,

suburban, or urban communities across the country. Victims of human trafficking have diverse

socio-economic backgrounds, varied levels of education, and may be documented or

undocumented. Traffickers target victims using tailored methods of recruitment and control they

find to be effective in compelling that individual into forced labor or commercial sex.

While human trafficking spans all demographics, there are some circumstances or vulnerabilities

that lead to a higher susceptibility to victimization and human trafficking. While not inclusive of

all vulnerabilities, the following highlights a few risk factors for victims of human trafficking.

Runaway and homeless youth are vulnerable to trafficking. A study in Chicago found that56

percent of prostituted women were initially runaway youth and similar numbers have been

identified for male populations. Runaway and homeless youth lack a strong supportive network

and runaway to unfamiliar environments are particularly at risk of trafficking. Runaway youth

are often approached by traffickers at transportation hubs, shelters or other public spaces. These

traffickers pretend to be a boyfriend or significant other, using feigned affection and

manipulation to elicit commercial sex or services from the victim.

Foreign nationals who are trafficked within the United States face unique challenges that may

leave them more susceptible to trafficking and exploitation. In 2013, 32 percent of calls with

high indicators of human trafficking to the NHTRC referenced foreign nationals. Recruiters

located in home countries frequently require such large recruitment and travel fees that victims

become highly indebted to the recruiters and traffickers. These fees are inflated far beyond cost

in order to create economic instability and dependency on the new employer or trafficker.

Traffickers leverage the non-portability of many work visas as well as the lack of familiarity

with surroundings, laws and rights, language fluency, and cultural understanding in order to

control and manipulate victims.

17

The Victims, [http://www.traffickingresourcecenter.org/what-human-trafficking/human-trafficking/victims, last

visited 05 September 2015].

Individuals who have experienced violence and trauma in the past are more vulnerable to future

exploitation, as the psychological effect of trauma is often long-lasting and challenging to

overcome. Victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, war and conflict or social discrimination

may be targeted by traffickers, who recognize the vulnerabilities left by these prior abuses.

Violence and abuse may be normalized or beliefs of shame or unworthiness lead to future

susceptibility to human trafficking.

V Push and Pull Factors for Rohingya Refugees in Human Trafficking

Globalization has changed the way many people see the world. As people become more aware of

living standards and lifestyles in other parts of the world, for example through television or the

stories (and sometimes wealth) of returning expatriates, their understanding of their ‘‘relative’’

poverty has increased and their expectations have changed. This motivates people to migrate to

secure greater income. There is also evidence that young people in particular consider migration

because they want to escape the drudgery of subsistence living and see ‘‘the bright lights of the

big city’’.18

Despite over ten years of developing anti-trafficking initiatives in the region, protections for

victims of trafficking remain grossly inadequate – especially where victims are stateless – and

the crackdowns came at a cost for the Rohingya in transit and those needing to flee persecution

in Myanmar. As a consequence of the crackdown, boatloads of refugees and migrants were

prevented by state authorities from landing in Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia as Southeast

Asian states closed down the informal routes of refuge that had previously facilitated Rohingya

entry. There was an immediate humanitarian crisis for those abandoned by their agents and

drifting at sea.19

18

Sally Cameron, Edward Newman, Trafficking in Humans-Social, Political and cultural dimensions (Hong Kong: United Nations

University Press, 2008), p.26.

19 Natalie Brinham, The Trafficking of Stateless Rohingya: A Problem of Organised Crime or State Crime?,

(London: Genocide Watch, London International Development Centre, 2015), p.

Who are the Rohingyas?20

Rohingyas are a distinct, Muslim ethnic group mainly living in Myanmar, which is also known

as Burma. Thought to be descended from Muslim traders who settled there more than 1,000

years ago, also live in Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. In Myanmar, they are regularly

persecuted - subjected to forced labour, have no land rights, and are heavily restricted. In

Bangladesh many are also desperately poor, with no documents or job prospects. There are three

categories of Rohingyas leaving for Malaysia. There are those who come directly from Myanmar

and use Bangladesh as a transit point, those already living legally in Bangladesh, and those living

illegally in the country. Of these last two groups, around 33,000 registered refugees currently

live under UNHCR protection in camps they can only leave with permission, and another

300,000 or so unregistered Rohingyas live in makeshift settlements surrounding the official

camps.21

Push Factors

Statelessness: The UN Special Rapporteur on Human Trafficking recently noted that refugees

and asylum seekers are at increased risk of trafficking and many will leave home knowing they

may be exploited.22

Rohingya are extremely vulnerable to organised crime abroad because they

are fleeing state crimes at home.

Persecution: Over the years, thousands of Rohingya people have fled to Bangladesh and other

countries to escape persecution. The trend began in the late 1970s as its government continued to

impose discriminatory regulations on the Rohingyas, estimated to be 1.1 million, mostly in

Rakhine province. According to the UN refugee agency UNHCR, the Rohingyas were not

formally recognized as Burmese national group after the country's independence in 1948. Also,

the 1982 Citizenship Law denied them citizenship. They are subject to various exploitations,

including forced labour, extortion, restrictions on movement, denial of residence rights,

inequitable marriage regulations and land confiscation.23

They are still not in a good situation,

20

'Thousands' of Rohingya and Bangladeshi migrants stranded at sea, The BBC News, 11 May 2015. 21

[http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/6/10/In-Bangladesh-human-traffickers-rely-on-silence-and-

extortion.html, accessed on 09 October 2015]

22 Natalie Brinham, Ibid.

23 The Daily Star, 25 May 2015.

they have no rights to move anywhere without the permission of camp authority. This reasons

make them more vulnerable in trafficking.

Insecurity; Many choose to risk the dangerous journey for a better life. “The young registered

Rohingya refugees residing in the two official camps see no future, they have limited education,

are not allowed to work, and are willing to take risks for a brighter future,” Ljungdell (an

unregistered Rohingya from Kutupalang) said. She also added that the unregistered Rohingyas

are much worse off, noting that they have no legal status, no legal protection, and only limited

access to basic services. “So you can see how young unregistered men and women feel they have

good reason to leave Bangladesh,” she said.24

Bangladesh plans to relocate thousands of Rohingya refugees who have spent years in camps

near the Burmese border to a southern island (200 hectares had been identified as a suitable site

in Hatiya island). A forced relocation would be “very complex and controversial”, she said.

Baul said the move was partly motivated by concerns the camps were holding back tourism in

Cox’s Bazar, home to a 125km-long sandy beach. “The government has been giving importance

to the tourism sector. Therefore, a plan to relocate them to an isolated area is under way.”

Thousands of Rohingya from Burma, as well as Bangladeshi migrants, have been attempting

perilous boat journeys organised by people smugglers to south-east Asia. Migrants often

travelled to Thailand by boat, then overland to northern Malaysia. But Thailand has cracked

down on smuggling after the discovery of mass graves there, which appears to have thrown

regional human-trafficking routes into chaos. More than 3,500 migrants have arrived on Thai,

Malaysian and Indonesian soil in recent weeks and hundreds or thousands more are feared

trapped on boats. Seven camps – some with dozens of graves believed to contain the bodies of

Rohingya – have been uncovered in Thailand’s Songkhla province, close to the Malaysian

border. Rights groups say local people must have been aware of the trade and on Wednesday

Thai police said they wanted villagers to aid their investigationThe move would not include the

estimated 200,000 unregistered Rohingya asylum seekers who have fled across the border over

the past decade and taken refuge in Muslim-majority Bangladesh. Most live close to the two

camps but are not entitled to food or other aid. Rights groups say these Rohingya survive in

appalling conditions, living on the margins and running the gauntlet of Bangladeshi authorities.

24

David Bergman, ‘In Bangladesh, human traffickers rely on silence and extortion’, Aljazeera news, June 10, 2015.

Hatiya, home to farmers and fishermen and located at the mouth of the Meghna river, is a nine-

hour journey by land and sea from the camps.25

No Basic Amenities: The Rohingya, a Muslim minority population in Myanmar, have fled

severe repression and persecution in their homeland and sought refuge in Bangladesh and other

neighboring countries for more than 50 years. Sadly, few find the assistance they desperately

need and instead are forced to survive in huge makeshift camps with little or no basic amenities,

including food or water. Now, increasing violence and intimidation in a makeshift camp in

Kutupalong, Bangladesh, is forcing the Rohingya to flee once again. Doctors Without

Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF26

) reports on the appalling living conditions and

maltreatment refugees are enduring at the hands of local authorities there.27

Appalling Conditions of Refugee Camps: Hundreds and thousands of the Rohingya live in

disease-ridden, prison-like squalor where they are living a life of limbo caught between the

crocodile and the snake. Neither are they allowed to go back to their own land nor are they

recognized by the Bangladeshi government. Life is literally on hold in these camps, where there

is no electricity, no drinking water, no opportunity to earn livelihood and no freedom to leave the

camps. The GoB (Govt. of Bangladesh) only allowed UN Refugee Agency and a few other

NGOs to work with a limited number of registered refugees living in the official camps, where

they provide bare minimum humanitarian assistance including food supply, basic education and

life-saving health care. But the rest of the hundreds and thousands of refugees, living in the

unofficial make-shift camps under sub-human and abysmal conditions receive literally no

assistance from anywhere and simply left to starve. According to the description of Physicians

for Human Rights, the make-shift camps are “among the worst they have ever seen.” The

ramshackle huts which they call home made of mud walls and covered with twigs and plastic

25

Bangladesh plans to move Rohingya refugees to island in the south, The Guardian, 28 May 2015.

26 Médecin Sans Frontières (MSF), Action Contre le Faim and Muslim Aid - from operating in the refugee camps in

August 2012) has assisted people in Bangladesh since 1992, most recently setting up a basic healthcare program in

the Chittagong Hill Tracts, assisting victims of Cyclone Aila and implementing an emergency intervention to assist

unregistered Rohingya in Kutupalong makeshift camp, with services also open to the host community

27 [http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/news-stories/field-news/bangladesh-rohingya-forced-out-makeshift-camp-

nowhere-go, last visited 03 November 2015].

garbage bags. During rainy season, it becomes impossible to walk inside the camp and mud

shacks become too muddy to sleep in. Open swears that run through the camps, make the living

condition more appalling than we can ever imagine.28

Multiple forms of Abuse and Harassment: The Rohingya refugees who do not have official

recognition have to work illegally to earn livelihood and their lives are full of continuous

harassment, uncertainty, intimidation, subjugation and subjection to multiple forms of abuses

including frequent arrest and indefinite period of detention by local security forces. Physical and

sexual abuses by local people are very common and they do not have any right to obtain justice

because officially they simply do not exist. They are often arrested by local police while working

outside the camp to earn their livelihood or collecting firewood from nearby forests. Immediate

release is denied and often they are sent to jail for an indefinite period of time, if they fail to pay

a bribe of around $110-$400 or manage to obtain guarantee from a Bangladeshi citizen. One

Rohingya Muslim interviewed by Refugee International (RI) spent over 5 years in jail waiting

for his family to pay $300 amount for bribe. At official camps, RI was told that refugees are

routinely charged by locals at the gate for leaving the camp and are often robbed when they

return.29

Sufferings of Women and Children: Rohingya women and children live in the most vulnerable

conditions among all the refugees. Refugees ofKutupalong and Leda Camps reported RI that

there is absolutely no security for women and young girls. One refugee woman said, “We never

feel safe. The villagers come in whenever they want and they do whatever they want.” As their

male relatives are not allowed to work outside, young girls are often forced to sex-trade to earn

money or sold by unscrupulous human traffickers as sex slaves in south-east Asian countries.

Due to dwindling food supplies, women and children suffer from acute malnutrition, which is

twice the emergency threshold. Sometimes people go 48 hours without food. A survey found that

65% of children under 5 years old are anaemic and chronically malnourished. Water supply is

scarce and extremely inadequate. Most of the time therefore, residents of the camps are forced to

28

Plight of the Rohingya Muslims in Bangladesh, [http://www.khilafah.com/plight-of-the-rohingya-muslims-in-

bangladesh/, last visited 03 November 2015].

29 Ibid.

drink sea water or stagnant water from nearby rivers which causes various diseases including

diarrhoea, cholera and other illnesses. Additionally, some women said that they could only take a

bath, two or three times a month. Toilets are far away from the huts and extremely poor in

condition and there is no segregation between men and women. Women sometimes wait until

dark to go to the toilet and are then often attacked or raped by the villagers. Rohingya children

are barred from attending local schools, denied healthcare and usually they have no right to look

forward for a better future.30

Violence; The risk of mass violence against the Rohingya and other Muslims in Rakhine State is

increasing ahead of Myanmar’s scheduled elections, with the intensification of the de-

nationalization process and the enacting of more discriminatory laws. If lessons from the past

are learnt, there is one sure way to increase the risk of a situation of ethnic cleansing turning into

one of mass killing – and that is to shut off escape routes. They will become more vulnerable for

being the subject matter of human trafficking.31

Pull Factors

Escape from Measurable Situations; To tackle the fresh influx and make the existing Rohingya

refugees more frustrated, the government of Bangladesh has taken various repressive and

discriminative policies towards them so that at one point they give up and leave this country

voluntarily. These are as follows:

Right after the violent crackdown of Burmese government in June, 2012, GoB ordered BGB

(Border Guard of Bangladesh) to seal the border and pushed back all of the boats back to Burma

carrying Rohingya Muslims desperately seeking shelter in Bangladesh.

After two months, in August 2012, GoB banned operations of three international NGOs named

France’s Doctors without Borders (MSF), Action Against Hunger (ACF) and Britain’s Muslim

Aid who were working for hundreds and thousands of unregistered refugees in Ukhia and Teknaf

of Cox’s Bazar in fear that their humanitarian assistance would increase the pull factor.

30

Ibid.

31 Natalie Brinham, ibid.

In the official camps, government officials abruptly halted refugee resettlement and have closed

all income-generating activities, including small shops and tailoring, stating that skills were

provided to only help refugees upon their return to Burma.

Bangladesh government also orders frequent crackdowns on camps, leaving thousands of

Rohingya, including women with young children homeless. The recent crackdown in February of

this year, on the camps at Shamlapur fishing village, 50 km from Cox’s Bazaar, without any

prior notice, left 35,000 undocumented Rohingya homeless. One of the women victim said, “We

have no roof over our heads. My children are hungry and I have nothing to feed them.”

In July, 2014, GoB officially banned the marriage between Bangladeshi citizen and Rohingya

refugee, so that no Rohingya refugee could ever apply for Bangladeshi citizenship through

marriage. Not only that, GoB also instructed the marriage registers not to register the marriages

between the Rohingyas.32

Relatively Secured life; Smuggling initially focused mainly on fortune-seeking migrants and

offered local people a lucrative alternative to traditional livelihoods like fishing and salt mining.

But it has expanded into a predatory operation of considerable scale. Traffickers have used high-

pressure tactics to pack rickety boats with desperate refugees, especially ethnic Rohingya fleeing

poverty and persecution in Myanmar.33

Traffickers fabricated offers make them hopeful to have life

relatively secured.

Employment Opportunities: The future of the refugees in Bangladesh remains uncertain, with the

Bangladesh and Myanmar governments unwilling to provide any sort of long-term protection for

those stranded and by law, effectively stateless citizens. They do not have any right to get

employments, any chance for better life.34

Anti-trafficking frameworks were developed primarily to tackle cross-border organised crime.

To do this, they broadly focus on Prosecution, Protection and Prevention. The aim is to prevent

trafficking by prosecuting criminal individuals, educating populations about risks and sometimes

by providing safe migration alternatives through bilateral agreements between states. Where

32

Plight of the Rohingya Muslims in Bangladesh, ibid.

33 Ellen Barry, ‘A Bangladeshi Town in Human Trafficking’s Grip’, The Newyork Times, June 23, 2015.

34 No Respite for Rohingya in Bangladesh, Aljazeera News, 16 Jan 2014.

[http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2014/01/no-respite-rohingya-bangladesh-201411675944519957.html , accessed on 07

November , 2015]

victims are stateless, and have also experienced state crime in their countries of origin, such

frameworks are impotent.

VI policy and practice recommendations for risk reduction

Recommended preventive action at the national level;

The Action Plan to Combat Trafficking in Human Beings adopted by OSCE contains a number

of measures recommended for adoption at the national level in order to prevent trafficking in

human beings. They consist of: (a) measures relating to data collection and research; (b) border

measures; (c) economic and social policies aimed at addressing the root causes of trafficking in

human beings; (d) awareness-raising measures; and (e) legislative measures. The following

economic and social policies are recommended:

In countries of origin:

Considering as priority goals the fostering of social, economic and political stability and

the reduction both of migration caused by deep poverty and of supply factors of

trafficking. Policies followed in pursuit of these goals should also promote both

economic development and social inclusion

Improving children’s access to educational and vocational opportunities and increasing

the level of school attendance, in particular by girls and minority groups

Enhancing job opportunities for women by facilitating business opportunities for small

and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Organizing SME training courses and targeting

them in particular at high-risk groups.

In countries of destination:

Implementing measures to reduce “the invisibility of exploitation”. A multi-agency

programme of monitoring, administrative controls and intelligence gathering on the

labour markets and, where applicable, on the sex industry, will contribute greatly to this

objective.

Considering the liberalization by Governments of their labour markets with a view to

increasing employment opportunities for workers with a wide range of skills levels. �

Addressing the problem of unprotected, informal and often illegal labour, with a view to

seeking a balance between the demand for inexpensive labour and the possibilities of

regular migration. �

Tackling underground economic activities that undermine economies and enhance

trafficking

In both countries of origin and countries of destination:

Taking measures to raise levels of social protection and to create employment

opportunities for all �

Taking appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in the field of

employment in order to ensure, on a basis of gender equality, the right to equal pay for

equal work and the right to equality in employment opportunities �

Addressing all forms of discrimination against minorities �

Developing programmes that offer livelihood options and include basic education,

literacy, communication and other skills, and reduce barriers to entrepreneurship �

Encouraging gender sensitization and education on equal and respectful relationships

between the sexes, thus preventing violence against women �

Ensuring that policies are in place that allow women equal access to and control over

economic and financial resources �

Promoting flexible financing and access to credit, including microcredit at low interest �

Promoting good governance and transparency in economic transactions �

Adopting or strengthening legislative, educational, social, cultural or other measures and,

where applicable, penal legislation, including through bilateral and multilateral

cooperation, to discourage the demand that fosters all forms of exploitation of persons,

especially women and children, and that leads to trafficking.

VII Conclusion

Rohingyas are became one of the most vulnerable group for human trafficking in Bangladesh.

This paper has discussed almost all risks and reasons for this. To reduce the risks the country of

origin, country of destination and both country of origin and country of destination have to take

proper steps as early as possible. About 30,000 Rohingya refugees officially live in Bangladeshi

camps today. Unofficially, there are more are 200,000 unregistered Rohingya there. The

registered are provided with aid and support by The United Nations High Commission for

Refugees (UNHCR) and the Bangladesh government. Unregistered refugees receive nothing.35

For this unstable and insecure situation Rohingyas are easily involve in human trafficking. There

are some specific push factors like statelessness, insecurity, no basics rights, appalling condition

in refugee camps etc. and pull factors like escape from measurable situations, relatively secured

life , employment opportunities etc. which have been make them victim of human trafficking in

Bangladesh.

35

No Respite for Rohingya in Bangladesh, Aljazeera News, 16 Jan 2014.

REFERENCES

BOOKS

John Morrison & Beth Crosland, The Trafficking and Smuggling of Refugees: the End Game in

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J. Morrison (1998), The Cost of the Trafficking of Refugees to the UK, The British Refugee

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NEWSPEPAR

The Daily Star, 25 May 2015.

The Newyork Times, June 23, 2015.

The BBC News, 11 May 2015

Aljazeera news, 10 June 2015.

The Guardian, 28 May 2015

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