Trafficking awareness campaign launched in quake zone

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the Pakistani government launched an information and awareness-raising campaign on Thursday to reduce trafficking of women and children from earthquake-affected areas of northern Pakistan. “This information campaign will focus on vulnerable groups in the quake zone – especially separated women, orphaned children and widows – to raise their awareness about the risks and realities of human trafficking and indicate sources of help in case of emergency,” Hassan Abdel Moneim Mostafa, IOM’s regional representative said at the launch in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad. In addition, the US $500,000 campaign will provide vulnerable groups with income-generating programmes to increase their capacity to manage changed economic situations, Mostafa added. More than 80,000 people were killed and another 3.5 million rendered homeless after a massive 7.6 magnitude earthquake ripped through parts of Pakistani-administered Kashmir and North West Frontier Province (NWFP) on 8 October 2005, just weeks before the start of the harsh Himalayan winter, creating one of the most challenging humanitarian operations ever. Nearly six months on, no confirmed case of trafficking from the quake zone has been reported, Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao, Federal Interior Minister, told those at the launch. “But we must continue to be vigilant to prevent any such potential activity in future,” he added. In order to reduce the likelihood of trafficking after the earthquake, Islamabad instigated a six-month countrywide ban on the adoption of children, along with the establishment of a hostel in the district Attock, some 80 km northeast of Islamabad, which currently provides refuge to 3,000 separated and destitute children and women. But the end of the earthquake relief phase means quake survivors have started returning to their communities – this is when many are vulnerable to traffickers, the IOM maintains. An information campaign on the radio and in newspapers and magazines plans to educate quake survivors about the dangers from traffickers – often luring victims by offering fictitious jobs and opportunities – as well as assistance being offered by the Federal Investigation Agency’s anti-trafficking units deployed in the quake zone.