VZCZCXRO5579
RR RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHDE RUEHTRO
DE RUEHKA #0459/01 1141124
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 231124Z APR 08
FM AMEMBASSY DHAKA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6642
INFO RUEHAD/AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI 0978
RUEHTA/AMEMBASSY ALMATY 0153
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN 0120
RUEHAH/AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT 0233
RUEHGB/AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD 0049
RUEHEK/AMEMBASSY BISHKEK 0123
RUEHLM/AMEMBASSY COLOMBO 8403
RUEHDO/AMEMBASSY DOHA 0221
RUEHDBU/AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 2131
RUEHKT/AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU 9636
RUEHKL/AMEMBASSY KUALA LUMPUR 0319
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 0601
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH 0383
RUEHKU/AMEMBASSY KUWAIT 0266
RUEHMK/AMEMBASSY MANAMA 0211
RUEHMS/AMEMBASSY MUSCAT 0065
RUEHNT/AMEMBASSY TASHKENT 0231
RUEHTRO/AMEMBASSY TRIPOLI
RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL 0337
RUEHGP/AMEMBASSY SINGAPORE 3038
RUEHCI/AMCONSUL KOLKATA 1250
RUEHBI/AMCONSUL MUMBAI 0314
RUEHDE/AMCONSUL DUBAI 0867
RUEHJI/AMCONSUL JEDDAH 0092
RUEAWJB/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
RUEAHLC/HOMELAND SECURITY CENTER WASHINGTON DC
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 DHAKA 000459
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
DEPT FOR: USAID, G/TIP, G, INL, DRL, IWI, PRM, SCA/RA, SCA/PB
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KCRM PHUM KWMN SMIG KFRD ASEC PREF ELAB BG
SUBJECT: EMBASSY DHAKA UPDATED INFORMATION FOR EIGHTH ANNUAL
TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS (TIP) REPORT
REF: STATE 02731, DHAKA 00290
1. This cable provides updated information provided by the
Government of Bangladesh regarding its efforts against trafficking
in persons (TIP) in the April 2007 to March 2008 reporting period.
Embassy point of contact is Kapil Gupta, Political/Economic Officer,
telephone: 880-2-885-5500 x 2206, IVG post-code: 583, fax number:
880-2-882-3744, e-mail: guptak@state.gov.
UPDATED INFORMATION ON LAW ENFORCEMENT EFFORTS
2. With respect to law enforcement of Bangladesh's formal anti-TIP
legislation, The Repression of Women and Children Prevention Act of
2000(amended in 2003), note the following corrected statistics for
the reporting period:
Investigations = 123 cases [Increase by 16 from REFTEL B)
Arrests = 106 persons [Increase by 25 from REFTEL B]
Prosecutions = 101 cases [Increase by 7 from REFTEL B]
Under the purview of Bangladesh's judiciary:
Convictions = 20 persons (18 life, one ten year, and one 14 year
sentence) [Increase by 5 from REFTEL B]
3. The Government of Bangladesh has provided post with additional
information on law enforcement actions by the Dhaka Metropolitan
Police and the Rapid Action Battalion. All of these
cases/complaints involve employment agents and/or travel agencies
facing criminal charges for activities directly related to labor
trafficking. These criminal cases were filed under the Penal Code of
Bangladesh, under applicable sections relating to fraud, criminal
breach of trust, forgery, using forged documents and abetment, and
cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property. [Note, these
arrests and cases were not filed under The Repression of Women and
Children Prevention Act of 2000(amended in 2003).] These are
offenses that are not defined explicitly as trafficking, but for
which the facts constitute a trafficking offense.
Law enforcement by the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (under ZIA airport
police station jurisdiction): 44 cases, against 48 individuals,
including more than 30 recruiting and travel agents (and company
owners) from the period of April 2007 to April 6, 2008. Currently
17 of these cases are under trial, final reports have been submitted
of five cases, and 19 cases are under investigation. (Information on
3 cases was not available.)
Law enforcement by the Rapid Action Battalion: From April 2007 a
total of 28 persons have been arrested for fraud, cheating, and
using forged documents. This includes a total of 17 cases filed
against labor recruitment or travel agencies. In this reporting
period the RAB has received a total of 141 complaints against travel
and recruiting agencies.
This new law-enforcement information represents an additional 76
persons arrested in 2007 for labor-trafficking related criminal
offenses, and 61 cases initiated. This number does not include the
arrests of high-profile individuals and government ministers on
corruption charges, several of whom were suspected of involvement in
labor trafficking activities, or who otherwise materially benefited
from corruption around labor trafficking activities.
DHAKA 00000459 002 OF 002
UPDATED INFORMATION ON DIPLOMATIC EFFORTS
4. The Government of Bangladesh has expanded bilateral diplomatic
efforts to secure the rights of Bangladeshi workers in
labor-receiving countries through Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs)
regarding expatriate workers. The MOUs establish legal, regulatory
and procedural mechanisms to facilitate licit international labor
flows. Simultaneously, the MOUs seek to establish mechanisms for
ensuring the rights of expatriate laborers, eliminating labor
recruiting malpractices, and providing means for abused workers to
obtain assistance. The first such MOU was signed between Bangladesh
and Malaysia in 2006.
During the 2007 reporting period Bangladesh concluded three
additional Expatriate Worker MOUs and began discussions on a fourth:
UAE (May 2007), Korea (June 2007), Qatar (January 2008), and Oman
(discussions underway; not yet signed.) Once concluded, the MOUs are
issued as office orders by the Ministry of Expatriate Welfare and
Overseas Employment to the applicable regulatory authority, the
Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET).
MORIARTY