Trafficking of women and children seems to be on the rise. The other day a leading Bangla daily informed that five thousand females and minors have been smuggled out of the country in the last six months. This disturbing statistics came out following the interrogation of some of the traffickers recently nabbed by the law enforcing agency.

Why are we unable to make any headway against trafficking? Many feel it is not the want of laws that handicap us fighting this social scourge. Trafficking can be dealt with effectively if laws of the land can be strictly enforced. It is true that traffickers do not use exotic out-of-the-world routes. Most of the times they use paths well known to the law enforcers. But law enforcers’ own proneness to corruption coupled with the lack of authorities' seriousness have made it more daunting a task than it actually is. One cannot help feeling the kind of urgency and coordination it takes to attack such a huge problem is missing in the government ranks. Unlike the various relevant government agencies that often suffer from coordinational hindrances, the traffickers are extremely organised and networked. At a macro level this underlines the importance of closer cooperation among the countries of this region . One way of forging a regional unity on this issue could have been to make optimal use of the SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) . Belatedly though this seems to have dawned on the SAARC leaders, a fact that was quite resonantly evident in the last summit of the seven South Asian countries. One hopes this is just the beginning of a much advocated but frustratingly elusive era of regional cooperation in fighting this problem.

But mere sensitising of the law enforcing agency or regional cooperation will not solve the problem. It has been observed before that in order to combat trafficking of women and children effectively, authorities have to attach great importance to the social and economic factors of the challenge. Social resistance is a must. So far the government has done very little in promoting this key factor. What little consciousness has developed until now is mainly because of the lone ranging efforts of the few women's rights organisations and the press. The government would do well to make imaginative and extensive use of the electronic media to enhance consciousness. But above all it should be remembered that the main reason behind trafficking is poverty. Unless something effective is done to alleviate rural poverty, human trafficking will be always there .