Adeela Mushtaq
Human Trafficking is a grave issue that we face both on a global and national level. Unfortunately, not much attention has been given to the issue. The main culprits of this heinous act are criminal organizations and networks, and the country’s organizations struggle to put an end to such crimes due to which the situation remains as grave as ever.
Human Trafficking is defined as the recruitment and transportation of people by force, fraud, or deception to gain a profit from exploiting these people. The trafficker may make false promises, and give them hope for great employment opportunities, or free education to trick and abduct them. Types of Human Trafficking include sex trafficking, forced labour, and debt bondage. Sex trafficking victims are mostly sexually exploited, forced to marry,or made to do prostitution. Forced Labour victims mostly include children, who are forced to beg, do labour, and in extreme cases used as soldiers who commit crimes for criminal organizations. Debt Bondage victims are made to work to pay off a debt, or their limbs and organs are removed and sold for money.
All this exploitation of the victims leaves them with scars and trauma.Migrant smuggling is the facilitation of irregular entry for a migrant into another country. This business is highly profitable as individuals exploit the people who are in dire need of employment, or they need to escape political turmoil or persecution in their own country. Violence, abuse, and exploitation are major traits of this business, and many immigrants die due to the harsh conditions during the smuggling i.e., many migrants die of thirst in deserts, perish at sea, or suffocate in containers.
Global Statistics on human trafficking are nothing short of terrifying, as they show that over 40 million people were victims of modern slavery in 2016, 71% of them being female. Females comprised 84% of the victims of forced marriage, and 99% of victims of forced laborvictims were sexually exploited. Children are proposed as the easiest targets for such exploitation because they do not know any better. Human Trafficking and Smuggling have been carried out across the globe several times in history.
The first known incident of human trafficking is the African Slave Trade where the American and European continents were considered as buyers, and some African groups were both items of trade and Middlemen. And what more that it was considered legal as there was no law stating that it was illegal before 1807. White Slavery is another example in history where slavery emerged, which involved using forcedmeans, deceit, or drugs on white women for prostitution.To counter this first every international agreement was signed on the issue of human trafficking in the year 1904.
In wars, it was observed that whenever a nation or kingdom (in those times) won they usually killed the males or sent them to hard labor, and the females were forced into slavery and prostitution. This injustice was not only limited to adults, but also to innocent children. The women and children of lost nations were sold to other nations or high-ranking officers at those times.This was also seen in World War I. In modern times, human trafficking has become less extreme due to strict laws against it, but some organizations and people still manage to scam people and exploit them. Pakistan is a center through which many people carry out human trafficking and illegal immigration. This is because it is a common land route for many countries to travel to Europe.Iran is the first transit point for both human traffickers and intending illegal migrants.
Therefore, there are a lot of routes that have been established for reaching Iran. The most popular one now starts from Punjab, reaches Quetta, and then leads to Noshki by train, bus, or car. From there, it leads to Yak Much, then Mashkail, and then to Iran. A total of 8 other routes have also been observed apart from this.The international routes have also been observed that are used for migrant smuggling; the most popular one leading into Iran from Pakistan, then Turkey, and finally Greece.Additionally, due to Pakistan being a Third World country facing sociopolitical and economic issues, the youth of this country tend to seek ways to survive and are attracted to the idea of illegally crossing borders into well-developed countries with more employment opportunities. Without ample security, women and children are kidnapped and subjected to forced marriages, prostitution, rape, and sexual assault.
This proves to be extremely harmful to the country and its people, as illegal immigration into other countries results in the loss of skilled labor from the country. The people and families affected by the smuggling become traumatized and cease functioning normally in society. It indeed is a huge problem for Pakistan and the rest of the world which is why many steps have been taken to intercept attempts at human trafficking and illegal immigration.
In Pakistan, the FIA in collaboration with the UNODC has set up a blueprint on how to halt such crimes in Pakistan, with support from many other partners such as the International Organization for Migration, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Interior, Law Enforcement Agencies, and other relevant stakeholders including Provincial Departments. Some of their plans include the Country Program III, which aims to strengthen the legal framework to better implement Human Trafficking and Immigrant Smuggling Laws, and the National Action Plan which intends to apprehend criminal organizations which facilitate human trafficking and illegal immigration while also helping and rehabilitating their victims.
The Victim reception and facilitationcenterhave also been put into place where deportees from Iran are accommodated, and dangers of smuggling and trafficking are taught to the populace.A “Consolidated Training Manual and Standard Curricula” for the FIA Training Academy were also created with great effort by the FIA and UNODC which is used to train officials in the constable to assistant director cadres. A “Victim Referral Mechanism” was also introduced in a few areas of Pakistan which offer direct help to victims of trafficking and smuggling. Seminars have also been held across the state to spread awareness about the dangers of Human trafficking and illegal immigration, both face-to-face and online, using LMS. These steps are necessary to be able to discourage the vices of Human Trafficking and illegal immigration that are a plague to our society.
(Writer is Assistant Registrar in HITEC University, Taxila )