Dhaka, Bangladesh 16 January 2022 – UNODC recognizes that criminal justice responses alone cannot effectively combat trafficking in persons (TIP) and smuggling of migrants (SOM), and understands that its efforts to address the transnational organized crime dimensions are only one part of a wider, comprehensive response that must be brough to bear in addressing the economic, social, cultural, civil and political dimensions of these crimes.
In line with the theme for 2021 Human Rights Day ‘Equality - Reducing inequalities, advancing human rights’ UNODC under the framework of the Global Action against Trafficking in Persons and the Smuggling of Migrants – Bangladesh (GLO.ACT - Bangladesh) organized a webinar on 22 December 2021 on the Introduction of UNODC Toolkit for mainstreaming human rights and gender equality in criminal justice responses to human trafficking and migrant smuggling.
In the context of the United Nations Transnational Organized Crime Convention and its related supplementary Protocols, UNODC is mandated to address the criminal aspects of human trafficking and migrant smuggling. Thus, the toolkit is developed to be a collection of resources designed to help practitioners better understand and incorporate human rights-based and gender-equal solutions to migrant smuggling and human trafficking into criminal justice responses. Representative from government agencies, non-governmental organizations and civil society organizations participated in the webinar.
“Victims of trafficking are the most vulnerable in terms of economic, culture and social context,” said Aimée Comrie, UNODC GLO.ACT Project Coordinator, who opened the webinar introducing the toolkit. The moderator of the webinar Mahdy Hassan, GLO.ACT - Bangladesh National Project Coordinator, invited Human Rights and Gender Expert, Marika McAdam, who drafted the toolkit to provide an overview. She explained, “The toolkit is a practical and tangible tool as it not only focuses on upholding human rights but also looks through the activities retrospectively.”
The toolkit contains 26 tools in total which includes, 9 explanatory tools, 6 analytical tools, 8 checklist and template tools, and 3 monitoring, evaluation and learning tools. Ms McAdam added that they attempted to be intersectional which included having consultation with diverse panels and as human rights aspirations are global, therefore, the toolkit contextualized and standardized tackling TIP and SOM in different countries.
Md Zahid Hossain, Human Rights Officer, Office of the UN Resident Coordinator in Bangladesh, stated that the toolkit is very timely in the context of COVID 19. “Gender inequality leads to the breach of human rights inequality; and once this pattern of breach begins it cannot be stopped,” he remarked. Zahid also appreciated the toolkit for striving towards sustainable development goals.
“This toolkit will help us to adjust with the new crime pattern of TIP and SOM from the traditional thought process as the patterns keep changing frequently. Right based and gender equal identification can lead to a good prosecution which is possible through the incorporation and implementation of these toolkits in national and international legislations,” said Mohammad Tariqul Islam, Country Director - Justice and Care, Bangladesh. He commended the toolkit to be helpful in investigation and protection assistance, since without identifying the victims properly services cannot be ensured.
A.K.M. Masud Ali, Executive Director, INCIDIN Bangladesh, talked about the national referral system and identification of cyber-enabled trafficking in person and commented, “UNODC’s toolkit will lead to ensure integration of human rights concerns within the national referral system.” He hoped that the toolkit will help practitioners and policy makers to investigate trafficking incidents and help them to uphold the rights of victims within the digital world of crime which is rapidly increasing amongst the traffickers.
As a direct actor of the identification process A.K.M. Akteruzzaman, Additional Superintendent of Police, Trafficking in Human Being Cell, CID, Bangladesh Police, shared his insights and urged the prioritization of identification to administer human rights and gender equality in the criminal justice system as very often traffickers are hiding in disguise of victims.
Thanking all the panelists for their insights Euridice Márquez, GLO.ACT Programme Management Officer, UNODC, shared that primarily the toolkit was developed targetting the staff of UNODC. Since the toolkit is extensive, UNODC is developing an interactive webpage to make the toolkit more practical and user-friendly for the wider stakeholders including criminal justice practitioners.
In the open discussion the participants praised the work of GLO.ACT for developing the toolkit and expected for ways forward from GLO.ACT – Bangladesh team while mainstreaming gender equality and human rights in response to TIP and SOM. Suggestions were made for ensuring higher accessibility of the toolkit, such as:
One of GLO.ACT-Bangladesh’s project objectives is to strengthen current capacity to investigate and fairly prosecute the crimes of TIP and SOM, while protecting the rights of trafficked persons and smuggled migrants. The Toolkit for mainstreaming Human Rights and Gender Equality into Criminal Justice interventions to Address Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants can be downloaded here.
GLO.ACT - Bangladesh is a joint initiative by the European Union (EU) and the UNODC being implemented in partnership with the International Organization for Migration (IOM). GLO.ACT-Bangladesh builds on a global community of practice set in motion in GLO.ACT 2015-2019 in 13 partner countries across Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America.
Through targeted, innovative and demand-driven interventions, the GLO.ACT aims to support the Government of Bangladesh and civil society organizations to more effectively fight the crimes of human trafficking and migrant smuggling across the country. The project works on developing evidence-based information on trafficking and smuggling patterns and trends, legislative review and harmonization, capability development of criminal justice actors, and international cooperation. The project also provides direct assistance to victims of human trafficking and migrants in vulnerable situations through the strengthening of identification, referral, and protection mechanisms.
The project is funded by the European Union.
For more information, please contact:
Mahdy Hassan: muhammad.hassan@un.org
Twitter: @glo_act