Stopping the boats before they sail: Bangladesh’s migration challenge

The ongoing tragedies in the Mediterranean are a stark reminder of the continuing dangers faced by Bangladeshis attempting to reach Europe through irregular routes. 

On 3 August, a vessel carrying 42 migrants, including 38 Bangladeshis, left Libya for Greece but ran out of fuel and drifted for several days. After an 11-day ordeal, nine Bangladeshis and one Sudanese national reportedly died.

Such tragedies are far from isolated. In 2021, at least 17 Bangladeshis died off the coast of Tunisia; seven died near Italy in 2022; and eight more died off Tunisia in 2024.

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) recorded 283 Bangladeshi deaths while attempting to reach Europe via the Mediterranean between 2014 and May 2024. The pressure is also growing: 24,318 Bangladeshis reached Europe by sea and land in 2025, a 59% increase from 2024.

Irregular migration is therefore no longer simply a humanitarian concern. It is also a challenge involving employment, trafficking, law enforcement and governance. It requires a broader and more systematic policy response.

The journey begins at home

The perilous journey to the Mediterranean often begins much earlier—in a Bangladeshi village or neighbourhood—with a promise of employment in Europe from a broker.

Families sell land and other assets or take on heavy debts to finance the journey. Migrants are then often handed over to criminal networks in transit countries such as Libya, where they can face detention, extortion, torture and other forms of abuse.

Bangladesh cannot directly dismantle criminal networks operating overseas. But it can disrupt the links between those networks and recruiters operating inside the country.

The challenge, therefore, is to move beyond arresting individual brokers and build the capacity to identify, investigate and dismantle the wider trafficking networks behind them.

The accountability gap

Bangladesh has laws against human trafficking, specialised courts and dedicated law enforcement mechanisms. It has also developed significant capacity for rescuing and repatriating stranded migrants.

According to data from the Bangladesh Police's Criminal Investigation Department (CID), the number of trafficking victims repatriated from Libya was 646 in 2023, 2,008 in 2024 and 3,463 in 2025. 

Yet accountability remains limited. Only around 5% of trafficking cases were prosecuted between 2021 and 2025, while approximately 95% resulted in acquittals.

This does not, by itself, establish guilt or innocence in individual cases. But such a prosecution and conviction record points to serious weaknesses in evidence collection, investigation and cross-border cooperation.

Recent measures to freeze bank accounts, confiscate assets and restrict the movement of suspects are steps in the right direction. But they will have limited impact unless they are accompanied by stronger investigations and more effective prosecution.

A clear policy agenda

The recurring loss of life requires Bangladesh to move from responding to individual tragedies to implementing a systematic prevention strategy. Five measures should be prioritised without delay.

Investigate every migrant death or disappearance 

Every Bangladeshi reported dead or missing on an irregular migration route should trigger an investigation into the recruiter, payments, documents and overseas connections involved. The objective should be to dismantle the trafficking chain, not simply arrest a local broker.

Establish a migrant death and missing persons registry 
The registry should record victims, routes, recruiters, payments and case outcomes. An anonymised annual report should publish data on deaths and disappearances alongside investigations, prosecutions and convictions. This would make institutional performance measurable and help identify emerging routes and networks.

Target trafficking at its source

Data on trafficking cases, passports, repatriations and victims should be used to identify high-risk districts and upazilas. 

Local administrations, police, schools, banks, community leaders and returned migrants can then lead targeted prevention efforts. The experiences of survivors and returnees should be used to expose fraudulent promises and enable earlier intervention.

Strengthen investigation and prosecution
High acquittal rates demonstrate that arrests alone are not enough. 

Bangladesh Police, immigration authorities, financial intelligence agencies, Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET), relevant ministries and Bangladesh missions abroad need stronger mechanisms for sharing intelligence and evidence.

Financial investigations should be central to this effort. Following the money can help identify the organisers behind trafficking networks, expose their overseas links and build stronger cases for prosecution.

Irregular migration is therefore no longer simply a humanitarian concern. It is also a challenge involving employment, trafficking, law enforcement and governance. It requires a broader and more systematic policy response.

Make legal migration a more credible alternative

Bangladesh must recognise a basic reality: young people migrate because they are seeking employment, higher incomes and social mobility.

The objective should therefore not be to stop migration, but to make it safer, legal and more productive.

Bangladesh should expand bilateral labour arrangements, vocational and language training, and legitimate pathways into overseas labour markets. Greater attention should be given to sectors such as agriculture, construction, hospitality, caregiving and technical occupations.

These pathways need to be expanded now—not after the next boat sinks.

From rescue to prevention

Bangladesh deserves credit for repatriating stranded citizens, strengthening anti-trafficking laws and expanding public awareness. But recurring deaths demand a more decisive shift: from rescue to prevention, from arrest to conviction, and from irregular routes to credible legal alternatives.

The measure of success should be straightforward: fewer Bangladeshis taking dangerous routes, trafficking networks dismantled, more effective prosecutions, lower migration costs and more workers accessing legal migration channels.

The Mediterranean may be thousands of kilometres away, but the journey often begins in a Bangladeshi village or neighbourhood.

Preventing the next tragedy at sea therefore requires action long before the boat reaches the water.

Md Nazrul Islam is a former executive chairman of BEPZA, former executive member (Planning and Development) at BEZA, a retired Major General of the Bangladesh Army, and a PhD researcher on technology, workforce transformation, and industrial competitiveness.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of The Business Standard.