Desk Report:
Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed has said that the current government is working with the highest priority to protect the citizens of the country from human trafficking and technology-based crimes. He said that the government is determined to maintain a ‘zero tolerance’ policy against international human trafficking and scam rings formed by misusing technology.
The minister made these remarks while delivering the chief guest speech at the high-level national dialogue titled “Trapped Behind the Scam: Ending Human Trafficking for Forced Criminality” organized on the occasion of “World Anti-Human Trafficking Day 2026” at the Grand Ballroom of Hotel Pan Pacific Sonargaon in the capital on Thursday (July 30, 2026).
The minister said that the nature of human trafficking is changing and complex. He said that criminal gangs are now trapping young people and job seekers not only through conventional means, but also using digital media, fake online recruitment platforms and various social media. Victims are being taken abroad with false promises of attractive employment and a better future and are later forced to commit criminal activities by being imprisoned in cyber scam centers and subjected to extreme torture, intimidation and coercion.
The minister also said that human trafficking gangs are now engaging in crime using various digital technologies. He said that only traditional law and order-centric measures are not enough to deal with this threat; rather, a coordinated and strong resistance must be built by bringing together technology institutions, financial institutions, the private sector and the conscious society.
Highlighting the steps taken by the current government to prevent human trafficking, the minister said that the government has achieved a historic milestone in curbing crime in line with international standards in keeping with the times. The government has formulated the ‘Human Trafficking and Migrant Smuggling (Prevention and Suppression) Act, 2026’. He said, this new law, formulated in line with the United Nations Convention on Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC) and related protocols, has brought modern crimes like online scams, technology-based enticement and coercion into committing crimes under strict punishment. At the same time, work is underway to update the ‘Human Trafficking Prevention and Suppression Rules, 2017’ to speed up the implementation process. In addition, the Ministry of Home Affairs is finalizing the ‘National Action Plan (2026-2030)’ through discussions with all stakeholders, which will put the four main pillars of prevention, protection, justice and partnership on a stronger foundation.
Regarding the dignity and rehabilitation of victims, Salahuddin Ahmed said, it is the moral and legal responsibility of the government to ensure the protection of every victim of human trafficking. For this, the ‘National Referral Mechanism (NRM)’ is being strengthened so that victims can be quickly rescued and provided with immediate legal, physical, psychological and rehabilitation support. A state-of-the-art ‘Digital Anti-Trafficking Information Management Platform’ is being developed to ensure data-based policy-making and accurate case tracking. He called on the media and civil society to ensure safe migration of the youth, women and migrant workers and to widely raise public awareness against fake recruitment cycles.
The National Dialogue, chaired by Manzoor Morshed Chowdhury, Senior Secretary, Public Security Division, Ministry of Home Affairs, was addressed as special guests by Law and Justice Division Secretary Md. Liaquat Ali Mollah, Inspector General of Bangladesh Police (IGP) Md. Ali Hossain Fakir, Charge d’Affaires of the European Union Baiba Zarina, and IOM Bangladesh Chief of Mission and Coordinator of the UN Migration Network Dr. Laura Tom Bonde.
Also present at the event were Bangladesh Coast Guard Director General Rear Admiral Md. Ziaul Haque and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) Additional Director General Brigadier General Md. Sohrab Hossain Bhuiyan ndc.
Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs Dr. Ziauddin Ahmed delivered the welcome speech at the event. Shah Mohammad Nahian, Head of UNODC Program Office Bangladesh, shed light on the theme of this year’s World Day Against Trafficking in Persons. An informational video was shown after the inaugural session. Rebecca Khan, Joint Secretary of the Political-1 Branch of the Ministry of Home Affairs, moderated the event.
A panel discussion titled “Trapped behind the scam: Addressing trafficking for forced criminality, deceptive recruitment and online exploitation” was held in the working session organized after the inaugural session. The discussion, moderated by Tasneem Binte Karim, National Programme Coordinator, UNODC South Asia, was attended by Ali Akbar Khan, Head of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and Acting Additional IGP, Giuseppe Di Giovanni, Italian State Police Representative at the Italian Embassy in Dhaka, Shariful Hasan, Associate Director of BRAC’s Migration Programme and Youth Platform, and Nahid Arman, a survivor of an online scam centre in Cambodia. This was followed by an open discussion and an awareness-raising puppet show titled “Trapped in Pursuit of a Better Life”.
The event was jointly organized by the Ministry of Home Affairs, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and the Counter-Trafficking Technical Working Group of the United Nations Migration Network. The national dialogue was attended by senior officials from various ministries, members of the diplomatic corps, representatives of international development cooperation agencies, members of law enforcement agencies, and representatives of the media.
