Child sex trafficking rife
2004-01-25 20:32
Dhaka - Nearly 1 000 children were smuggled out of Bangladesh in a three-and-a-half year period to June 2003, according to a study released Sunday in the capital, Dhaka.
The non-governmental Centre for Women and Children Studies said 2 405 Bangladeshi children - 1 209 boys and 1 196 girls - went missing between January 2000 and June 2003.
Of that total, 510 boys and 457 girls were confirmed as having been smuggled out of Bangladesh, a report by the centre said.
Most of the trafficked boys were below 10 years old and were smuggled out to the Gulf region to work as camel jockeys or as bonded labourers in other countries, the report said.
The girls that were smuggled were aged between 11 and 16 and were mostly used as sex slaves.
"Accurate figures of the number of children being trafficked out is impossible to determine as it is done secretly," Centre chief Ishrat Samin said at a seminar in Dhaka.
According to a 2002 United Nations study, about 30 000 females, mostly young girls, have been smuggled out of Bangladesh over the past decade.