Bangladeshi trafficking victims will be brought back in a month

After verification, Bangladeshi trafficking victims will be brought back to the country in a month, Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque said today.

Bangladesh missions in the three Southeast Asian countries – Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia – remain very active over the issue, the secretary said at a press conference.

He was briefing regional meeting on “irregular migration” through the sea held in Thailand on May 29.

Bangladesh’s role in curbing human trafficking was highly appreciated at the May 29 conference, said Sahidul, who led the Bangladesh delegation in Thailand. 

“It’s not possible for a country alone to resolve the crisis. It will have to be addressed regionally and globally,” the foreign secretary said.

Poverty is not only reason behind the illegal migration, he said adding that the main driver is something else.

The foreign secretary however did not elaborate his comment.

The regional meeting was held against the backdrop that mass graves believed to contain bodies of deceased Rohingyas and Bangladeshi migrants have been found in Thai-Malaysian border areas, and thousands of Bangladeshis and Rohingyas have been found abandoned at sea after Thailand's crackdown on human trafficking.