Trafficked

As the year 2024 nears its end, we are yet again reminded of our collective descent into chaos. The wins of yesteryears are now coming undone as we watch helplessly. According to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime’s Global Report on Trafficking in Persons, human trafficking has risen sharply due to never-ending conflicts, climate-induced catastrophes and the related global crises. The report, based on the figures from 2022, says that the number of known victims worldwide rose to 25 per cent above 2019’s pre-pandemic levels. Per the report, children made up 38 per cent of detected victims, up from 35 per cent in 2020. Given how the half of 2023 and the entire 2024 had been marred with bloody conflicts, there is little doubt that the next reports will be even more stark than the current one. It is rather shameful that countries are not showing any urgency to deal with the situation. For profiteers, trafficked children are a great source of cheap labour.

We do not have to go far enough to see the disastrous impact of human trafficking. In Pakistan, we see abandoned children working on roadside cafes or kiosks, listening to the never-ending taunts of their employers. We see them employed in brick kilns with no one to speak up for them. Besides this, news reports often surface of women being trafficked to other countries under the pretext of marriage. Then, we have a shocking case of an NGO owner who has been accused of trafficking at least 25 children to the US, highlighting shrinking safe spaces for orphaned and abandoned children here.

In countries like Pakistan, exploiters also profit off of bleak political and economic situations. Profiteers masquerading as travel agents often dupe people into paying them millions of dollars against promises of a good job abroad only to send the naive people to exploiters who force them into bonded labour. Such things can only be stopped if there are strict border controls. Countries should be vigilant and must put an end to human smuggling. The government here has to carry out awareness campaigns where people are taught how to spot illegal or con agents and save themselves from becoming their victims. Authorities must also focus on adopting a people-centric approach to ensure that people don’t fall into the trap masterfully laid out by exploiters. This is a humanitarian crisis, and the world has to come together to fight it.