Trafficking victims

July 30 marked the 10th annual World Day Against Trafficking in Persons. This year’s campaign focused on raising awareness of the causes and vulnerabilities associated with child trafficking, with children around the world being subjected to many forms of trafficking including forced child labour, sexual abuse, illegal adoption, crime and recruitment into armed groups. The risks around child trafficking appear to have risen both due to the increase in unaccompanied minors crossing borders as a result of the migration crisis and the increasing ease of internet access among children without the proper safeguards. This can easily put them in the sight of predators seeking to traffic and abuse children. Looking at the problem of human trafficking in general, one can easily say that the world has not done enough to prevent vulnerable people from being exploited for financial gain. Human smugglers have been able to find easy targets in countries like Pakistan, desperate to escape the poverty, oppression and general hopelessness they face at home and appear to have been able to stay a step ahead of the authorities when it comes to deceiving and smuggling victims out of the country for pay. This is part of the reason why the current year has been the deadliest for migrants crossing the Mediterranean since 2016. The around 200 Pakistani migrants who drowned last year after the overcrowded fishing boat smugglers packed them into capsized off the coast of Greece are a reminder of just how dangerous the trafficking and smuggling of persons can be.

While much of the discussion around human trafficking in Pakistan has revolved around the migrants and human smuggling problems, it is important to remember that there are many more aspects to the trafficking of persons. The trafficking of women and children is also a serious problem. In fact, women made up the vast majority of trafficking victims reported by the government in 2022, according to the US State Department’s 2023 Trafficking in Persons Report: Pakistan. The majority of them were victims of sex trafficking and this appears to be one of the more underreported problems in Pakistan. All in all, over 35,000 trafficking victims were identified within the country’s borders in 2022, making trafficking of people at home likely a much bigger problem than people being smuggled out of the country in terms of scope. Aside from sex trafficking, forced labour and other unspecified forms of trafficking appear to be the most common.

It is important to remember that these are only the trafficking victims the government managed to identify and the real numbers could be much higher. However, many in Pakistan are not even aware that this is a problem in the first place. Back in January, the UNODC launched a nationwide awareness campaign on trafficking in persons and migrant smuggling in partnership with the FIA. Its findings showed that only 55 per cent of respondents had heard of human trafficking, though 60 per cent had heard of migrant smuggling. Only nine per cent of respondents knew about the local laws on trafficking in persons. Boosting awareness of the problem, particularly among vulnerable communities, and familiarizing people with common tactics used by human traffickers will be crucial to countering the problem. Local law enforcement will also have to be better trained and have the resources available to track down traffickers and those who have been trafficked. This means creating an environment where victims of trafficking feel safe to talk about their experience will also be very important.