With about 140 million people, Bangladesh has the seventh largest population of any country in the world.

The poor are everywhere, living on the streets or in shacks made of boards, poles, twine and bits of corrugated metal. Most live on less than $1US per day.

Bangladesh is a source country for women and children trafficked for international sex markets and additionally supports a substantial domestic sex trafficking industry.

Salvation Army Centre is a safe haven
In Old Dhaka women meet in a Salvation Army centre. Some women are old, some middle-aged and others are quite young. All face the same challenge: how to escape from the sex market.

The stories of how they each came to be in prostitution are all unique. Some were orphaned and sold to a brothel by a family ‘friend’ or relative. Others were lost at train stations when, as children, a “kind’ stranger sold them to the ‘care and shelter’ of a brothel. Others were victims of rape and were afraid to return to, or are rejected by their families. Others were lured with promises of work and were taken to a sex market.

For a year they are able to meet in the Salvation Army centre. During this time they are given counselling and encouragement, receive skills training in handicraft making, form friendships among themselves and are refreshed by the love and caring of the program staff. Most who have gone through the program have been able to find jobs and leave prostitution behind for good.

The Salvation Army is forming an international anti-trafficking task force. This committee will facilitate efforts to combat sexual trafficking. Bangladesh Salvation Army continues to fight the problem at the grassroots, winning the battle one life at a time.