Human Trafficking

**Amazing Creator** · 05-03-2014, 11:15 AM

I had written this for my clg mag but My Sir said , "It is Objectionable for a clg mag ". So I am sharing it here ......

Human Trafficking

Pakistan is both a country of origin and destination as far as human trafficking is concerned. Poverty, gender discrimination, lack of education, and ignorance about legal rights are some of the underlying causes. Available data suggests several areas of concern, like, for instance: direct health effects, maladaptive coping leading to the use of illicit drugs, and inaccessibility to health

facilities. Therefore, numerous interventions would be required at three levels: the prevention of trafficking, the protection of victims and the prosecution of the traffickers. People belonging to poor and backward areas of Pakistan are among the cheapest labourers in the world and have been falling victims continuously to human trafficking.

According to Pakistan Thematic Group on Human Trafficking (PTGHT), the coastline between Karachi and Gwadar is often used for human trafficking for Gulf States by road to the border of Iran from where they are picked up by gangs and transported to Greece, Italy and Spain via ships
Trafficking of women and children for entertainment and labour and sex industry is reported to be on the rise with every passing day. The ill-fated victims are subjected to different forms of exploitative work including domestic servants, bonded labour, agriculture workers and sweatshop factories, etc.

The PTGHT report further revealed that women are trafficked to Pakistan from Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Iran, Myanmar, Nepal and Central Asian states for forced sexual exploitation.

Pakistan is the source country for young boys who are kidnapped and trafficked to the gulf states as camel jockeys. Women and children trafficked from East Asian countries and Bangladesh often transit through Pakistan. A number of them are trafficked to the Middle East to work as bonded labourers or domestic servants. Women and children from rural and poverty-stricken areas of Pakistan are particularly vulnerable to trafficking to urban centres for commercial and sexual exploitation.

The menace has gained an alarming situation as thousands of Pakistanis are being deported from Middle East, Europe, America and Canada each year but off loaded at international ports. Ironically, the issue remains invisible due to proper coverage in print and electronic media.United Nation Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC) report of pakistan says :"Pakistan is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of forced labour and sexual exploitation. There is considerable trafficking in women, children, and young men for prostitution through Pakistan but trafficking for forced labour is probably more widespread. Although estimated numbers of internal and external human trafficking victims are lacking, the trafficking of people from Pakistan for sexual exploitation, forced labour, forced marriage and use as camel jockeys has been well documented.

Pakistan's large number of Afghan refugees, entrenched poverty, porous borders and presence of organized international smuggling networks make it a fertile operating environment for human traffickers. Children are particularly vulnerable, often accessing smuggling networks in search of work. Although victims from Pakistan are trafficked all over the world, people trafficked from South Asia are most commonly trafficked to the Middle East."

The UNODC study estimates the illegal economy associated with this form of crime in Pakistan is more than $109 million a year.

Human trafficking deprives people of their human rights and freedoms, it is a global health risk, and it fuels the growth of organized crime. But the impact of human trafficking goes beyond individual victims; it undermines the safety and security of all nations it touches.It has a devastating impact on individual victims, who often suffer physical and emotional abuse, threats against self and family, passport theft, and even death.

The Federal Investigation Agency should redouble its efforts to bust gangs of human traffickers, whose heartless business and devious means keep ruining families and their breadwinners.
Law enforcement can also assist in asserting control over the victim. We need to put an end to human trafficking.