‘Implement National Plan of Action to counter child trafficking’

Terming children more vulnerable to human trafficking, civil society activists have called for full implementation of the National Plan of Action (NPA) 2018-22 on combating human trafficking.

Children (both male and female) of mainly marginalised families are trafficked both within and outside the country for sexual exploitation, begging, work in the fishing sector, and other sectors of slavery such as brickfields, they observed.

They were addressing a view exchange meeting with stakeholders concerned for creating a human trafficking prevention fund at Young Women's Christian Association auditorium at Mohammadpur in the capital on Monday.

Community Participation and Development (CPD), a consortium member of Prevention of Child Trafficking through Strengthening Community and Networking (PCTSCN), organised the event on behalf of PCTSCN.

The government has formulated the NPA, which stipulated various measures, including creating the fund for combating trafficking, they said.

They called for adequate financial allocation for implementation of the NPA, ensuring coordination across actors and participation of children in NPA implementation, and ensuring priority of children in strengthening the institutions (National Authority, Fund and Special Tribunal).

Advocate Md Rafiqual Islam Khan Alom, coordinator, PCTSCN secretariat, presented the keynote paper.

AHM Habibur Rahman Bhuiyan, joint secretary (administration-2), Law and Justice Division, attended the event as the chief guest while AKM Masud Ali, executive director of INCIDIN Bangladesh, presided over it.

Among others, Moslema Bari, executive director of the Centre for Policy Dialogue, Md Alamgir Hossain, senior assistant judge and legal aid officer of Dhaka district, Rabiul Islam, deputy director of the National Human Rights Commission Bangladesh, and Biraj Sarkar, deputy director of the department of youth development, spoke at the event.