The Silent Crisis: Unveiling Human Trafficking in Bangladesh’s Migration
Human trafficking continues to cast a long shadow over Bangladesh, quietly devastating lives while remaining one of the country’s most urgent human rights concerns. Women and children bear the heaviest burden, caught in cycles of poverty, exploitation, and violence that strip away both dignity and opportunity.
A new UNICEF report released in 2025, Stopping the Traffic, calls trafficking what it is: modern slavery. It underscores that this is not just a criminal act but also a direct violation of child rights. Bangladesh has taken important steps, acceding to the Palermo Protocol in 2019 and ratifying several ILO conventions against forced and child labour. Regionally, it has signed on to frameworks like the SAARC Convention and the Bangladesh–India RRRI MoU. At home, the Prevention and Suppression of Human Trafficking Act (2012), its implementing rules (2018), and the recently introduced National Referral Mechanism (2024) have together built a strong legal base.
But laws on paper often stumble when tested in reality. Specialised anti-trafficking tribunals remain overwhelmed: more than 4,000 cases were pending in 2024, yet only 88 convictions were secured. That gap between effort and outcome is why Bangladesh was ranked Tier 2 in the 2024 U.S. Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report a sign of progress, but also a clear reminder that minimum standards are still unmet.
The scale of the problem is sobering. Bangladesh serves as a source, transit, and destination for trafficking. Street-connected children around 3.4 million of them, are at the highest risk, yet only 13% receive any kind of support. In Cox’s Bazar alone, 316 victims were identified in 2024: men and boys trafficked for gruelling labour, and women and girls forced into domestic servitude or sexual abuse. Climate change makes the vulnerabilities worse. In flood-prone areas, nearly three-quarters of adolescent girls reported intimate partner violence. Families under pressure often resort to child marriage or push children into unsafe migration. The consequences stretch far beyond Bangladesh’s borders. Bangladeshis accounted for 23% of sea arrivals in Italy last year and, tragically, 12% of all recorded deaths in the Mediterranean.
There have been gains. Detection has improved, with 1,210 victims identified and 407 convictions recorded in 2023. Still, civil society groups say the true numbers are far higher, with over 10,000 victims unaccounted for by official statistics. Children represent nearly 40% of detected victims: boys pulled into exploitative labour or even criminal activity, and girls coerced into sexual exploitation. Coastal districts and Cox’s Bazar remain hotspots, while Dhaka and Chattogram operate as major destination hubs.
UNICEF’s report calls for sharper, more focused action. It highlights five priorities: clear the backlog of trafficking cases and strengthen detection; focus on high-risk groups like street children and children with disabilities; adapt responses to local realities and gender-specific vulnerabilities; close the gap between trafficking laws and child protection systems; and above all, build a universal child protection framework. That framework must connect community hubs, referral pathways, and essential social services, while weaving protection into the country’s climate resilience planning.
Bangladesh has done the hard work of laying down strong laws. The challenge now is to bring those commitments to life. Until the gap between policy and practice is closed, children and vulnerable groups will continue to slip through the cracks, and the silent crisis will remain anything but solved.
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