Kulsum Bahar, 27, holds the Myanmar national's registration card of her daughter, Jannatara, 8, who has gone missing, without a trace, 14 months ago on her way to a learning centre from her home in the Balukhali refugee camp
Kulsum Bahar, 27, holds the Myanmar national's registration card of her daughter, Jannatara, 8, who has gone missing, without a trace, 14 months ago on her way to a learning centre from her home in the Balukhali refugee camp, Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, December 2, 2019. Kulsum believes her daughter has been abducted by child traffickers. “If only I could know that she is alive and well. I would hold her tight. I would tell that I love her”, she explains, holding back her tears. “I feel that if she is indeed alive, she is very far away from here”. There has been an increase in children being reported missing or confirmed abducted within the Rohingya community inside the camps. Human trafficking can be summarized as the recruitment, transportation or receipt of people through deception or coercion for the purpose of exploitation including prostitution, sexual exploitation, forced labor or removal of organs. Women and girls are recruited for labor exploitation as domestic servants, restaurant and hotel workers, farm employees and or supermarket and factory employees. They are also recruited for sexual exploitation – prostitution, forced marriages. For children, there are reports that they are used in illicit activities – drug trafficking, particularly yaba drugs. However, it is difficult to confirm the true scale of trafficking because cases may not be reported and the verification of cases takes a long time, particularly if there is no trace of the person who is reported to have been trafficked. It is known that different types of trafficking and migration take place in Cox’s Bazar. It is likely that the scale of trafficking is higher than official records suggest. Both Bangladeshis and refugee communities are reportedly involved in trafficking. Older refugees who arrived prior to the 2017 influx are reported to be well established in Bangladesh and often use their established contacts to recruit newly arrived refugees. Agents reportedly exist both with
