Cabinet approves India, Bangladesh MoU on prevention of human trafficking

A meeting of the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Saturday gave its approval for a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between India and Bangladesh for the prevention of human trafficking and for the rescue, recovery, repatriation and reintegration of victims.

The MoU will aim to strengthen cooperation between New Delhi and Dhaka to prevent all forms of human trafficking, especially that of women and children, and ensure the speedy investigation and prosecution of traffickers and organized crime syndicates. It will also enumerate preventive measures that would be taken to eliminate human trafficking in women and children and in protecting the rights of victims of trafficking.

The MoU will also look at the repatriation of victims as expeditiously as possible, with the home country undertaking the safe and effective reintegration of the victims.

The fourth meeting of the India-Bangladesh Task Force, which was held in April, had seen both sides review the progress on decisions taken in earlier meetings and held comprehensive discussions and finalised the text of the draft MoU.