Civil society role central to combat human trafficking

Given the lack of economic and human resources in Pakistan, civil society should shoulder the responsibility of reducing human trafficking by developing skills and employment opportunities in general, and for victims in particular, anti-trafficking activists say. "Combating human trafficking in Pakistan should be located within the larger context of underlying social and economic problems and lower status of women," Abid Gulzar, acting national executive secretary of the Rome-based international charity, Caritas Pakistan, told IRIN in the eastern city of Lahore, capital of Punjab province. Some 310 cases have been registered under the anti-trafficking law in Lahore alone since it was promulgated in 2002, according to the Lahore chapter of country's Federal Investigation Agency (FIA). "At present, traffickers are employing all three routes of land, air and sea," Tehseen Anwar Ali, deputy director at FIA Lahore, told the delegates at a seminar arranged by the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The IOM is holding a series of seminars across the country under its ongoing project, entitled: "Development of a Conceptual Framework and Strategies to Combat Trafficking" to help develop a national strategy to combat human trafficking. The two-year programme, comprising stakeholders from the governmental, intergovernmental and nongovernmental sectors, is funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). Ali noted that the trafficking in persons was being carried out in collaboration with some corrupt officials, primarily through airports and on the southern coastline between Karachi and Gwadar. Anti-trafficking activists stressed the need to address the root causes of trafficking through larger anti-poverty and anti-corruption frameworks, both at the national and global level. Direct support should be given to children at risk and their families through income generating activities, Gulzar maintained. Educational and vocational training opportunities for victims - especially girls who are often discriminated against in society due to their inferior status - should be prioritised as well, she noted. "We need to run a massive awareness raising campaign at all levels - from the village community to the shop floor, involving both electronic and print media - aimed at preventing people falling into the hands of traffickers," Gulzar said. The country's migration and anti-trafficking authorities also stressed the need to enhance regional cooperation with India, Iran, Turkey, Afghanistan and Bangladesh on trafficking issues. "Steps should be taken for elimination of trafficking through better migration management in the region and the protection of migrant rights as mentioned in the 'Bangkok declaration of 1999'," Rashid Ahmed Mughal, director at Bureau of Emigration and Overseas Employment, said. Bangkok Declaration on Irregular Migration adopted in 1999 gives particular attention to regional cooperation on irregular/undocumented migration. Meanwhile, anti-trafficking activists urge law enforcement agencies, legislators, litigators, religious leaders and educators to take active part in curbing tragic enslavement of millions of innocent people, particularly women and children.