By 1650, the Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, French and English had established colonies throughout the world. The enslaved indigenous peoples were deployed for harvesting and mining. The elimination of slavery started in 1776, when John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson pushed to make the elimination of slavery as part of the movement for America's independence. In the 1800s Simon Bolivar called slavery "daughter of darkness." In 1833, the British Empire outlawed the practice.

Since then, amidst immense turmoil, slavery was gradually up-rooted, and in 1926 the League of Nations introduced a Slavery Convention, which obliged member nations to abolish slavery. In 1930, the ILO Convention on the abolition of slavery and a 1956 supplementary Convention strengthened the law. Now, in this modern era, with so much progress and humanisation, we are faced with the age-old, once-gone slavery in a different form and name -- "human trafficking." This has emerged as a growing global menace to the lives and freedom of millions of men, women and children.

ILO estimates that there are 12.3 million people enslaved in forced labour, bonded labour, forced child labour, sexual servitude, and involuntary servitude. ADB estimates that one to two million people are sold across international borders every year, of which a large number are from poor Asian countries -- 150,000 from South Asia, 225,000 from Southeast Asia (source: US State Department). 80% of the victims are female, and up to 50% are children. About 25,000 women and children are trafficked from Bangladesh. The UNODC database that records actual instances of trafficking lists 127 countries of origin and 137 countries where exploitation actually has taken place.

In Asia, most trafficking occurs within the region. The main countries of origin are China and Thailand, followed by Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Vietnam. The main destination countries in the region are Thailand, Japan, Israel, Turkey and India. Southeast Asia is seen as a key transfer point, both in the region and outside. Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka are the countries from where human trafficking originates, while India and Pakistan are the countries of destination, or of transit to other regions.

Trafficking denotes the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of threats, or use of force or other forms of coercion, like abduction, fraud, deprivation, deception, and abuse of power, or of the giving or receiving of payment or profits to achieve the consent of a person having control over the other person for the purpose of any kind of exploitation.

Exploitation includes the exploitation of prostitution of others, or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude, and the removal of organs (source: Palermo Protocols, UN).

Analysed as a market, human trafficking includes both supply and demand forces. On the supply side, poverty, corruption, lack of education, gender-based discrimination, lack of information among the public about trafficking, weak enforcement of existing relevant laws and policies, lack of good governance, lack of employment opportunities, regional imbalances, political instability, uprooting of communities for mega projects, growing deprivation and marginalisation of the poor, insufficient penalties against the traffickers, and the eternal human yearning for improving one's life make people vulnerable to the lures of trafficking. Market demand, especially from male sex buyers, creates a strong profit incentive for traffickers to entrap more victims, fueling the growth of trafficking in people.

Human trafficking has turned into a most profitable business, only next to the illicit trade in drugs and arms, with an annual profit generation of $ 9.5 billion (source: US FBI), which fuels other criminal activities like money laundering, drug trafficking, document forgery, militancy, and suicide missions. According to estimates released by international agencies, trafficking of minor girls is a $1-billion-a-year industry in India alone, and it is thriving due to increased sex tourism in Mumbai, Goa and adjoining coastal areas.

The poverty-stricken rural areas of Maharashtra -- Beed, Latur, Solapur, Jalgaon, Ahmednagar, Nandurbar, Chandrapur, Washim, Akola, Buldhana, Dhule and the Konkan region -- have emerged as some of the biggest suppliers of minors. States such as Assam, West Bengal, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Orissa have also opened up as new supply markets. The government estimates there are 3 million sex workers in India, at least 40 percent of them children. India was placed on the Tier 2 Watch List for the fourth consecutive year for its failure to show increasing efforts to tackle the large and multidimensional problem.

Bangladesh is a source and transit country for men and women trafficked for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and involuntary servitude. It is also a source country for children -- both boys and girls -- trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation, bonded labour, sale of organs, and for serving as camel jockeys. Some Burmese women who are trafficked to India transit through Bangladesh. India and the Middle East are the primary destinations for the trafficked children, followed by the UAE, Europe, and US.

Between June 2006 and September 2007, 488 victims were rescued, 379 traffickers were detained, and 444 victims were handed over to their legal guardians. The rest of the victims are in different shelter homes in the country. The trafficking route along the South Asia-Gulf region affects Bangladesh. Several reports over the years reveal that traffickers use 21 points in 16 south/south-western districts of Bangladesh near the Indian border to run the trade. The main trafficking route is the Dhaka-Mumbai-Karachi-Dubai route.

Bangladeshi human rights NGOs estimate that 200 to 400 Bangladeshi women and children are trafficked to Pakistan every month; an estimated 10-15,000 are trafficked to India annually, and 70-80 women and children are trafficked to other countries. An estimated 200,000 women, including girls as young as 9 years old, have already been trafficked to different countries. The recruiting agents are not only external criminal agents, but also relatives and community people, like pimps (52%), relatives (17%), and neighbours (8%) (INCIDIN, 2002).

Human trafficking is a social evil that seems to be growing at an alarming rate in Bangladesh. It is also the worst form of violation of human rights. To avert this, we need to raise awareness among potential victims, amongst the law enforcement agencies, social welfare workers, and immigration personnel; develop cooperation and adequate coordination of efforts among local, state and regional political bodies; and, finally, enforcing exemplary punishment for the traffickers and their aides, before it turns into a humanitarian catastrophe.

Zulfiquer Ahmed Amin is a freelance contributor to the Daily Star.