Small trafficking networks were targeting the Rohingya minority and members of the local community in Cox’s Bazar ahead of the late August influx of refugees.
Now, as aid workers continue to respond to the overwhelming needs of the stateless population, worry grows that once-disorganized trafficking gangs are quickly formalizing.
Forced labor and sexual exploitation have become the most rampant forms of trafficking in the area, said UNICEF spokesperson based in Cox’s Bazar Benjamin Steinlechner.
Desperate men, women, and children are being recruited with false offers of paid work in industries such as fishing, begging, and domestic work, according to interviews and community focus groups conducted in the district's makeshift settlements by the International Organization for Migration.
Those working in the camps said there are reports of buses transporting young women every morning from Kutupalong-Balukhali camp to nearby communities for sex work, returning at the end of the day.
Other reports include women being enticed to work in the hospitality industry, then being denied wages and becoming trapped in hotels in Cox’s Bazar, or of desperate families selling their children into bonded labor, most commonly in the fish drying industry.
And because Rohingya society encourages unmarried women and girls — the most vulnerable to sexual exploitation and trafficking — to remain in the home for most of the day, it has taken time to reach them with effective messaging.
To get ahead of the issue, many aid organizations are now encouraging preventative protection measures in the form of discussion and awareness raising in women’s and adolescent groups within the camps, according to Devex, the media platform for the global development community.
“The experiences that have forced people to flee their home to live in another country, and the difficulties of day-to-day life in the camps,” said IOM Communications Officer Fiona Mac Gregor.
People are vulnerable to being misled or taking risks they would not in other situations, and so often need support and additional awareness raising to help them avoid that, added Mac.
“For women, what we found was this protection and prevention had to be taken to their homes,” said Iffat Nawaz, head of BRAC’s communication team on the ground.