World Day highlights urgent global crisis of human trafficking

Islamabad: On World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, a high-level event in Islamabad underscored the urgent global crisis of human trafficking, reaffirming Pakistan's unwavering commitment to combatting this heinous crime.

Under the theme "Human Trafficking is an Organized Crime -- End the Exploitation," the gathering brought together key national and international stakeholders, including senior officials from Ministry of Interior, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), and prominent international organizations.

Participants collectively pledged to bolster cooperation and accelerate decisive actions against human trafficking, recognizing it not as an isolated incident, but a sophisticated, cross-border network preying on human vulnerabilities.

Startling global data reveals over 200,000 victims identified between 2020 and 2023, a number believed to be a fraction of the true scale.

Victims are brutally forced into bonded labour, sexual exploitation, and other coercive abuses, highlighting the escalating sophistication of traffickers that demands equally robust responses from law enforcement and the judiciary.

The event, a collaborative effort by the FIA, UNODC, ILO, IOM, SSDO, ICMPD, and International Returns and Reintegration Assistance (IRRA), received vital financial backing from international partners including Canada, the European Union, the US Embassy, the British High Commission, and Australia, among others.

Opening the discourse, Syed Arsalan, UNODC’s Head for Pakistan, stressed the imperative of recognizing human trafficking as organized crime and reiterated UNODC's steadfast support for the Government of Pakistan. Asim Ayyub, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Interior, emphasized Pakistan’s commitment to international cooperation in tackling this transnational challenge.