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‘Govt has strong will to work against trafficking in persons’

Shakeel Anjum
Thursday, Sep 22, 2022

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Interior Rana Sanaullah Khan said that government has a strong political will and commitment to move forward with the work against trafficking in persons.

FIA has already developed a National Action Plan (NAP) against Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants (2021–2025) which aims to promote the detection of trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants, improve the position of victims and intensify the enforcement of criminal liability.

The minister was speaking in a seminar organise under the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), in collaboration with the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and a high-level consultation workshop for National and Provincial Anti-Human Trafficking Committees held on Wednesday.

The minister said that if the Action Plan is implemented in its true letter and spirit, this would bring trafficking in persons cases to Zero in Pakistan.

Sanaullah Khan urged Director General FIA and other provincial bodies to work in closer coordination with each and UNODC to achieve the objective of eliminating trafficking in persons from Pakistan.

During his speech, the FIA Director-General Mohsin Hassan Butt, said, “We are improving our identification of potential victims and offering greater support to those who are victims of this abhorrent crime. Trafficking is a gross violation of a person’s basic rights and dignity and disproportionately affects the most vulnerable, especially women and children. We are working jointly with UNODC and the European Union to enhance support to the victims of trafficking and vulnerable smuggled migrants. Our National Action Plan to combat human trafficking and migrant smuggling is victim-centered and addresses the gaps related to it”.

He further added, “We are enhancing our ability to act early and to help other relevant stakeholders within Pakistan to deal with the issue. Police are mandated to investigate crimes of internal trafficking and other departments including labour, child protection, women’s protection, and social services are mandated to provide protection and assistance services to the victims”.

This high-level national consultation aimed to provide an opportunity for all the members of national, provincial, and district-level anti-trafficking committees to meet and deliberate on their objectives. There were three main objectives of the consultation.

First, there is a lack of understanding of trafficking by law enforcement officers. Secondly, there is a tendency to consider irregular migrants as offenders only but they are also victims. Thirdly, there was a lack of coordination among relevant actors at the federal, provincial, and district levels.

During his welcome remarks, Dr Jeremy Milsom, Representative UNODC Country Office Pakistan, said “Curbing human trafficking and migrants smuggling requires a coordinated response at all levels.” We are pleased that the Government of Pakistan notified provincial and district-level TIP Coordination committees earlier this year.