Journalists trained on reporting on trafficking in persons, bonded labour

Islamabad : A two-day workshop was organised for journalists’ training on improved reporting for trafficking in persons and bonded labour in Pakistan by Sustainable Social Development Organisation.

During the workshop, expert briefed journalists on Prevention of Trafficking in Person Act 2018, identification of victim and sensitivities involved in such cases.

The Executive Director SSDO, Syed Kausar Abbas in his opening address said that this law has been in force since 2018 under which the accused can be sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment or a fine of one million rupees or both if found guilty. "It is a crime to force any man, woman and child to engage in any form of employment or sexual exploitation and transplantation of organs against their will, as reported by the police if the crime occurs within the country and o FIA for the crime held outside the country."

The workshop trainer Waqar Haider Awan Advocate said in his lecture that after the enactment of this law, the police should take action against the perpetrators of sexual exploitation, child labour or any kind of forced labour and cases should be registered under the new law.

Senior journalists Myra Imran and Azaz Syed gave detailed lectures on the methods of reporting the above mentioned crimes and the responsibilities of the journalist.

Hafsa Javed, Punjab Public Relations Department, Sedrah Ghias, Sadia Mazhar, Mubashara Sultan, Mehboob Sabir, Faisal Mansoor, Shakila Jalil, Mahnoor Qureshi, Sehar Qureshi, Myra Hashmi, Saqib Virk, Shakir Abbasi, Maryam Khurshid, Muhammad Shehzad, Asim Shehzad, Ikram Khan, Rai Waleed Bhatti, Mohammad Saleh Mughal, Ahmed Bhatti, Iqra Liaquat and Danish Hussain participated in the training. At the end, certificates were also given to the participants.