Editorial in Dawn, December 16th, 2023
THE currency of human bondage, known as human trafficking, is the false promise of a better life through employment and even marriage in wealthy countries. Sadly, victims only realise that they have been trapped in a web of lies when they find themselves confronting forced labour, debt and sex work on foreign soil, which they have reached after treacherous journeys. Equally troubling is the fact that the sinister trade now exists at a considerable scale at a time of soaring inflation and joblessness in Pakistan. An enabling environment for the practice has also been shaped by apathy, corruption and the absence of institutional scrutiny. Although it took tragic events, including one that cost 300 Pakistani lives off Greek shores, for the FIA to launch the National Trafficking in Person hotline on Thursday, the facility to lodge complaints against human trafficking merits appreciation. Grievances registered at a specified number will be forwarded to the relevant police stations across Pakistan so that victims can be transferred to welfare departments. The initiative promises a long overdue synchronised approach.
However, complexities such as an ignorant and insensitive police force riddled with patrons of the business, either counts the vulnerable groups — women, children, illiterate men and refugees — as abductions, or refuses to record complaints. As a first step towards rectifying this fault, a deeper understanding of the crisis is needed, alongside consultations between the provincial and federal security apparatus on curbing human trafficking. Other than that, victim-oriented services, supported by mental health and rehabilitation programmes, are essential. The authorities must also avoid seeing victims, who have been uprooted by poverty and illiteracy, as criminals. Instead, empowering law enforcers with knowledge, technology, finances and a failsafe procedure to identify and penalise offenders should take precedence. Lastly, security services must have clarity about dealing with the elite sitting atop the trafficking pyramid.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1798324/battling-trafficking
Battling trafficking
Editorial in Dawn, December 16th, 2023
THE currency of human bondage, known as human trafficking, is the false promise of a better life through employment and even marriage in wealthy countries. Sadly, victims only realise that they have been trapped in a web of lies when they find themselves confronting forced labour, debt and sex work on foreign soil, which they have reached after treacherous journeys. Equally troubling is the fact that the sinister trade now exists at a considerable scale at a time of soaring inflation and joblessness in Pakistan. An enabling environment for the practice has also been shaped by apathy, corruption and the absence of institutional scrutiny. Although it took tragic events, including one that cost 300 Pakistani lives off Greek shores, for the FIA to launch the National Trafficking in Person hotline on Thursday, the facility to lodge complaints against human trafficking merits appreciation. Grievances registered at a specified number will be forwarded to the relevant police stations across Pakistan so that victims can be transferred to welfare departments. The initiative promises a long overdue synchronised approach.
However, complexities such as an ignorant and insensitive police force riddled with patrons of the business, either counts the vulnerable groups — women, children, illiterate men and refugees — as abductions, or refuses to record complaints. As a first step towards rectifying this fault, a deeper understanding of the crisis is needed, alongside consultations between the provincial and federal security apparatus on curbing human trafficking. Other than that, victim-oriented services, supported by mental health and rehabilitation programmes, are essential. The authorities must also avoid seeing victims, who have been uprooted by poverty and illiteracy, as criminals. Instead, empowering law enforcers with knowledge, technology, finances and a failsafe procedure to identify and penalise offenders should take precedence. Lastly, security services must have clarity about dealing with the elite sitting atop the trafficking pyramid.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1798324/battling-trafficking
Published in Pak Media comment