Protection of the victims of human trafficking : a comparartive study between Bangladesh and Malaysia

Abstract

Human trafficking is now a global problem and a largest organized crime. It is a gross violation of human rights and the darkest episode in population mobility. Human trafficking takes away the freedom, liberty, and human dignity from an individual and makes them a slave under compulsion. The trafficked person commonly being subject to commercial sex and forced labor and other kinds of exploitations. The issue of human trafficking affects the victims physically, mentally, and psychologically on the one hand and damages the social norms and human values on the other. Bangladesh and Malaysia are facing a serious problem with this kind of crime where Bangladesh known as a source and Malaysia know as a source transit for human trafficking in this region. Both countries are trying to prevent the crime and protect the victims of these offenses by legislating special Acts. In this study, the researcher investigates the adequacy of the protection mechanism for the victims. It examines the available protections provided by the Acts of Bangladesh and Malaysia and explores the positive advancement of the Acts as well as the weaknesses and shortcomings in the protection regime. In doing this research, the researcher organizes the study into five chapters where the first chapter discusses about the problem of human trafficking while the second and third chapter focuses on the available protections in the Anti-Trafficking Acts of both countries. Chapter four elaborates the comparative discussion on the similarities, differences and scope of improvement in both Acts. The last chapter presents the findings for both Bangladesh and Malaysia along with significant suggestions. In developing the thesis, researcher follows doctrinal research method and comparative legal reach approach. The study employs the descriptive and analytical approach to achieve the objective of the research. The researcher collects information from both primary sources such as Acts, international conventions and secondary sources such as academic journals, books, reports, magazines, online databases. The findings of this research are both Acts provide certain protections which are good for the victims and at the same time the Acts also offer several protections which are found inadequate. Moreover, there are some aspects which are absent in both Acts, therefore, needs to incorporate into the Acts. The researcher suggests that both countries may consider the recommendations of this study for further development of the Acts in the area of victim protection.