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https://www.thedailystar.net/frontpage/news/human-trafficking-special-tribunals-ensure-speedy-trials-1868497

The government is going to set up seven special tribunals for speedy trials in human trafficking cases as Bangladesh faces risks of US sanctions for not doing enough in combatting the heinous crime.

"Seven special tribunals will be established in divisional cities. They will start functioning from March this year," Law Minister Anisul Huq told The Daily Star on Wednesday.

The tribunals will surely help speed up the trial process of the human trafficking cases, he said.

Over 4,700 human trafficking cases are now pending, Anisul Huq said, expecting that the tribunals, once set up, will try the human traffickers to check such incidents.

The development comes after Bangladesh was ranked in Tier 2 Watch List for the last three consecutive years in the US Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report.

As per the US law, Bangladesh is not eligible to remain in Tier 2 this year, said the US Embassy in Dhaka in an email response to The Daily Star on January 20.

"Either Bangladesh must show significant and increased efforts to meet the minimum standards to eliminate trafficking in persons and achieve a Tier 2 ranking or risk an automatic downgrade to Tier 3," it mentioned.

Any country ranked in Tier 3 is subject to severe restrictions and even full curtailment of non-humanitarian, non-trade-related assistance as set forth in Section 110(d)(1) of the US Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), it said.

Additionally, the US president may also withhold funding for Bangladesh government officials or employees for participation in educational and cultural exchanges.

The president can also instruct the US executive director of each multilateral development bank and the International Monetary Fund to vote against, and use his or her best efforts to deny, any loans or other uses of the institutions' funds to Bangladesh. Only the president himself can waive these restrictions.