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HUMAN TRAFFICKING

Dhaka disagrees with US rating

Recommends status be upgraded

STAFF CORRESPONDENT
Foreign Minister M Morshed Khan yesterday reiterated that Dhaka does not subscribe to the US report that tags Bangladesh as one of the most vulnerable states of origin in human trafficking.
He, however, said the United States should upgrade Bangladesh to a higher tier in recognition of the country's recent proactive measures against human trafficking.
"We never did accept Bangladesh's position in tier 3 and that's why we are pressing our case forward," Morshed told reporters referring to reassessment of the country's role in containing human trafficking.
A US team arrived in Dhaka Monday to re-assess relegation of Bangladesh as one of the worst performers in preventing human trafficking.
Earlier on June 14, the US State Department in its report on human trafficking downgraded Bangladesh to tier 3 for countries that are most vulnerable states of origin for human trafficking from tier 2.
In a letter in May the US embassy in Dhaka gave a six-step work plan for Bangladesh to follow in response to the "Human Trafficking in Persons Report 2004".
Speaking in his office, Morshed said the government has taken some very significant steps to prevent human
trafficking.
Morshed said government steps that include stronger implementation of existing anti-human trafficking laws, greater conviction of traffickers, and more rigorous border screening measures, within a span of only 38 days of the US report is well up to par and should be encouraged by a return to tier 2.
"We need support, because no country with such limited resources like ours can tackle the menace itself," said Morshed, adding, "Even more affluent nations like Greece and Turkey were downgraded to tier 3 in the US State Department's reports on human trafficking in previous years, but were put up to tier 2 after a year."
Reaz Rahman, adviser to the government on foreign affairs, told reporters that Dhaka has explained its difficulties in stemming the flow of human trafficking to the visiting US team, but also maintained that the government is very determined to make every possible effort to meet the challenge.
"We'd continue the process as part of our commitment to the people, not merely to graduate to tier 2 of a particular report," said Morshed.
The continuation of Bangladesh in tier-3, Rahman said, would project a negative image of the country and might even deter possible General System of Preference facility as well as military assistance.
Withdrawal of nonhumanitarian and non-trade US assistance could follow, if the visiting US team judge Bangladesh to have made inadequate efforts in improving the human-trafficking situation.
No country, however, has ever been slapped with such sanctions by the US for being marked as tier-3 country.
The US had given Bangladesh a deadline till August 14 to make 'significant efforts' to comply with related US laws on human trafficking in persons in order to have a reassessment. The visiting US team, lead by Mark Taylor, a senior official at the State Department, would return to US and have till September 14 to re-assess Bangladesh's position in tier 3 and give its report to Secretary of State Colin Powell.