Migration experts and sector specialists believe the urge of searching for jobs overseas through irregular channels is increasing day by day, as the scope for seeking jobs through legal channels has shrunk. This partly explains the humanitarian crisis that surfaced…
Members of the Detective Branch of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) separate drives arrested three suspected human traffickers from Ashkona of Dakkhin Khan and Fakirerpol areas in the city on Sunday night. DB officials said they also rescued 17 victims during…
Mekong Migration Network launches a report on migrant women and health in the GMS in advance of the International Day of Action for Women’s Health May 28 is the International Day of Action for Women’s Health. Since 1987, this day…
A regional conference called to address the swelling tide of boat people in Southeast Asia ended Friday with no major breakthroughs, as Myanmar criticised those blaming it for fueling the crisis and warned that “finger pointing” would not help. But…
The United Nations (UN) has said all the countries that are ‘implicated’ need to sit around the table and come up with a solution regarding human trafficking. “I think all the countries that are implicated, whether they’re origin countries, transit…
Rohingya and other survivors of dangerous boat voyages from Burma andBangladesh describe horrific treatment by unscrupulous smugglers and traffickers in Burma, and abuse and neglect aboard ships, Human Rights Watch said today. A regional meeting scheduled on May 29, 2015,…
Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali has said terming the Rohingya Muslims ‘Bengalis’ are not supported by historical facts. “The migration of Muslims in that area (Arakan) was from many of the neighbouring countries of Myanmar. Therefore, over simplification of the…
Amid the growing menace of human trafficking to some South Asian countries through risky sea routes, the government is preparing a new ‘work-plan’ to stop the crime as it may deal a severe blow to Bangladesh’s international labour market. The…
Expressing deep concern over the sufferings of Bangladeshi nationals floating on the sea, Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) held lack of good governance in migration sector, weakness in implementation of law and corruption of powerful people responsible for the human trafficking.…
Several mass graves thought to contain bodies of migrants have been found in Malaysia, authorities say. Home Minister Zahid Hamidi was quoted by Malayia’s Star newspaper as saying the graves were found in 17 abandoned trafficking camps near the Thai…
Against the backdrop of movement of the migrant people to other countries from Bangladesh in an illegal way, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday put emphasis on bringing them under punishment for tarnishing the image of the country side by…
Myanmar has pledged to cooperate with Bangladesh and other countries to address the issue of “boat people” at sea, hoping that the issue will be resolved amicably with Bangladesh as the latter is a friendly neighbor of Myanmar, said a…
By Chandra Muzaffar It is commendable that the Malaysian government has undertaken a systematic Search and Rescue (SAR) operation in the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal aimed at saving the lives of thousands of stranded Rohingyas and Bangladeshis.…
Anti-smuggling Operation Bound by Human Rights Law (Brussels) – European Union military action against human smuggling networks should not put the lives and rights of migrants and asylum seekers in jeopardy, Human Rights Watch said today. The Council of the…
By Jonathan Head As the trade in human beings becomes more and more profitable, the BBC’s Jonathan Head discovers that entire communities in Thailand are helping the traffickers. Earlier this month, I accompanied a group of Thai volunteers through the…
Protesters on Monday demanded immediate action to rescue Bangladeshi would-be migrants who are left ‘floating’ off the coasts of Thailand and Malaysia, as well as stern punishment against human traffickers for their heinous crimes. The demand came from a rally…
Migrants rescued from a sinking boat off Indonesia have told the BBC that about 100 people died after a fight broke out over the last remaining food. Survivors told of horrific conditions. Three men separately said people were stabbed, hanged…
Myanmar’s government has said it is not responsible for the migrant boat crisis in south-east Asia, and may not attend an emergency summit on the issue. Thousands of migrants from Bangladesh and Myanmar are feared stranded in boats in the…
With up to 8000 desperate people – Rohingya Muslims from Burma and economic migrants from Bangladesh – stranded in boats in the Andaman Sea, experts call for an urgent regional, humanitarian response.
The United States is coming under pressure from human rights groups and some in Congress to help Rohingya and Bangladeshi migrants stranded at sea as Southeast Asian nations refuse to let them come to shore. Washington is stepping up its…
More than 700 migrants from Bangladesh and Myanmar have been rescued from a sinking boat off Indonesia’s coast. Reports say another boat was turned back by the Indonesian navy. The fate of another vessel of stranded migrants off the coast…
With thousands from Africa and the Middle East continuing to make the perilous journey across the Mediterranean, Europe’s response to the crisis seemingly comes down to two choices: Stanch the flow, or accept and resettle the migrants. Now, however, it…
Associated Press JAKARTA, Indonesia — Hundreds of migrants abandoned at sea by smugglers in Southeast Asia have reached land and relative safety in the past two days. But an estimated 6,000 Bangladeshis and Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar remain trapped in…
Nearly 600 people believed to be Bangladeshis and Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar have been rescued from boats drifting in Indonesian waters. At least two overcrowded boats – with many women and children on board – were towed by local fishermen…
BNP spokesman Asaduzzaman Ripon on Sunday alleged that human trafficking marked a sharp rise in the country as the government has failed to generate jobs for the unemployed people. “Most youths are now jobless and they are taking risk of…
Thai authorities on Saturday questioned more than 100 migrants discovered in the country’s south to determine whether they were victims of human trafficking, as Thailand races to meet a deadline to uncover people smuggling camps within its borders. The 117…
BANGKOK (Reuters) – More than 100 suspected Rohingya migrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh have been found in Thailand’s southern Songkhla province, police said on Friday. Police said the 111 migrants had been left alone in the jungle after suspected human…
More than 5,800 migrants have been rescued and 10 bodies recovered off the Libyan coast over the weekend, the Italian coastguard says. The survivors were picked up from wooden and rubber boats, in 17 separate operations by Italian and French…
A mass grave, believed to contain the remains of migrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh, has been discovered at a human-trafficking camp in southern Thailand, according to media reports. Thai national police spokesman Lt Gen Prawut Thawornsiri said he could only…
Bill Frelick “Tragic developments” was the apt descriptionby the European Commission of what may prove to be the largest maritime disaster the Mediterranean has seen. But while European officials have been quick with sympathetic words following the capsizing on Saturday…