Vienna, Austria - 25 April 2023 – In a world where borders are becoming increasingly porous and migration has become a way of life, the issue of migrant smuggling and human trafficking is a growing concern. This is especially true for migrants from Bangladesh who face numerous challenges and dangers as they attempt to make their way to countries in Central America.
Organized criminal groups often take advantage of the willingness of people to move across borders and the absence of legal pathways for migration. From their points of origin to destination, the smuggling routes often combine land, sea, and/or air segments, and are rarely limited to one modus operandi. The organized criminal groups engaging in migrant smuggling pose a great risk not only to the States affected by their criminal activity, but also to the life and safety of the thousands of people that are the object of smuggling, who are exposed to mistreatment, abuse, gender-based violence, sexual violence and other aggravated forms of smuggling during their journey.
In recent years, the authorities of Costa Rica have noted criminal activity targeting migrants from Asian countries, including Bangladesh, and sought out the help of UNODC to strategize ways to combat the issue.
UNODC with the joint efforts of the European Union funded Global Action against Trafficking in Persons and the Smuggling of Migrants - Bangladesh (GLO.ACT- Bangladesh) project and the the Government of Canada funded Strengthening Transregional Action and Responses Against the Smuggling of Migrants (STARSOM) organized a series of bilateral meetings among criminal justice authorities from Costa Rica and Bangladesh to strengthen channels of communication, information exchange and promote judicial cooperation in combatting smuggling of migrants and trafficking in persons.
The principle bilateral meeting was held in Vienna from 23 to 25 March 2022 which included 9 participants, 4 from Bangladesh and 5 from Costa Rica, including two female prosecutors.
The meeting allowed participants to exchange information on the current trends and patterns of abusive and exploitative manifestations of migrant smuggling targeting migrants from Asia in Central America, reinforce channels of communication and foster a common understanding of the modus operandi of organized criminal groups engaging in such activity. The meeting also strengthened the capacity of participants to engage in bilateral/multilateral cooperation in the detection, investigation and prosecution of transnational organized crime.
Following a fruitful first in-person engagement, on 26 May 2022, GLO.ACT and STARSOM facilitated a first follow-up online meeting between participants of Costa Rica and Bangladesh and a second follow-up meeting between prosecutors and police investigators from Costa Rica and Bangladesh was held on 21 July 2022, through the online UNODC Knowledge Platform KNOWTS with the same participants.
After the principal meeting and two online follow-up meetings, both countries continue cooperating and exchanging information when required. UNODC is in touch with practitioners from both countries to offer further support to strengthen the cooperation to achieve the ultimate goal of the engagement to dismantle the criminal enterprise in common routes and to prevent human trafficking and migrant smuggling.
The UN Trafficking in Persons Protocol and Smuggling of Migrants Protocol encourage States parties to cooperate with each other by exchanging information to enable them to determine the means and methods used by organized criminal groups for trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants. The UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ) encourages member States to share best practices, experiences, information, challenges, and lessons learned in preventing and combating the smuggling of migrants.
This series of meeting has led and will continue to lead to better communication, cooperation, and a common understanding of the challenges and good practices in addressing migrant smuggling and exploitation. It will also, in the long term, lead to enhanced law enforcement and judicial responses and strategies to dismantle criminal networks and foster transnational cooperation.
The Global Action against Trafficking in Persons and the Smuggling of Migrants - Bangladesh (GLO.ACT - Bangladesh) is a joint initiative by the European Union (EU) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) being implemented in partnership with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), led by the Government of Bangladesh. 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 fully committed to mainstreaming Human Rights and Gender Equality considerations across all of its activities.
The project is funded by the European Union.
For more information, please contact:
Mahdy Hassan, National Programme Coordinator
GLO.ACT-Bangladesh
Twitter: @glo_act