We need to find ways to restore the rescued children to their families if we want to achieve sustainability
A national workshop titled “Missing Child Alert (MCA),” which was held in the capital yesterday, highlighted that 200,000 missing children cases are recorded in South-Asia every year and around 20,000 of that number are children from Bangladesh, most of whom are trafficked into India.
Aiming to strengthen governmental efforts to track and rescue the trafficked children, South Asian Initiative to End Violence Against Children (SAIEVAC) Bangladesh organised the workshop at capital’s the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel.
MCA is a coordinated project of three countries – Bangladesh, India, Nepal – that aims to build a technologically sound regional system to facilitate prevention, rescue and repartition of trafficked children.
The project underscores the need for creative use of technology and a “uniformed case management” system to handle relevant issues such as tracing, rescuing and repatriation in a coordinated manner.
In her welcome speech, Sian Platt, acting country director of Plan International Bangladesh, highlighted the need for government initiatives in curbing cross-border child trafficking.
Additional DIG (Organised Crime) of Criminal Investigation Department Shah Alam, urged for a system that can notify the seven police control rooms, based in the six divisional districts and the capital, and also 600 police stations across the country.
“We need to find ways to restore the rescued children to their families if we want to achieve sustainability,” Mohammad Mamun Bakaul, a child member of SAIEVAC suggested.
The speakers discussed forming an 11-member technical advisory group with representatives from different ministries, including the women and children affairs ministry, home ministry, information ministry, social welfare ministry, local government, UN agencies, and international NGOs.
Additional Secretary (Political) to Ministry of Home Affairs Dr Kamal Uddin Ahmed, Settasak Akanimart, officer-in-charge of Child Protection, UNICEF Bangladesh, attended the workshop, among others.
Source: Dhaka Tribune