espite making significant efforts st year, the government has yet to illy comply with the minimum lobal standards of human-afficking prevention, according i a latest US State Department ipon.

The Trafficking in Persons sport, 2008, released by the US ate Department yesterday also commends that the government icrease criminal prosecutions ;ainst traffickers and their gov-nment aides and protection of iult male trafficking victims and rced-labourvictims.

"Bangladesh does not fully imply with the minimum stan-

dards for the elimination of trafficking. however, it is making significant efforts to do so, " the report states.

Over the past year, the report states, "The government has made uneven efforts to punish trafficking offences." as the rate of convictions against both labour and sex trafficking has gone down from last year.

The report cited government figures of 106 sex-trafficking related arrests, but only 20 reported convictions, which is 23 fewer than last year. No convictions were achieved last year for the 76 labour-trafficking related arrests.

"Areas of continued concern

include the need for increased measures to protect expatriate labourers against forced labour, and increased action against internal bonded labour and forced child labour," the report said adding that the absolute number of trafficked victims is also large.

The government's "continued lack of efforts to protect victims of forced labour, who constitute a large proportion of trafficking victims in Bangladesh ' was also identified as an area of concern by the report.

But the report found criminal prosecutions against sex traffickers went up and the government initiated "criminal.enforcement of laws overseeing migrant labour recruitment".

The state department also lauded the government efforts to prevent trafficking and signing a number of bilateral agreements with destination countries to pursue traffickers and repatria e trafficked children, men and women.

The US recommends that Bangladesh significantly increase criminal prosecutions and punishments for trafficking related to fraudulent recruiting and forced child labour.

Bangladesh is on the second tier of the state department's ranking of countries with trafficking problems. It had dropped down to the third tier in 2004.