MULTIPLE socioeconomic factors propel criminal practices. Preying on the poor for astronomical profit tops the list. The fact that Pakistan appears on ‘Tier 2’ of the 2024 Trafficking in Persons Report by the US State Department should be viewed under this lens. Amid frequent reports of human trade, KP Governor Faisal Karim Kundi’s call for widespread awareness in eliminating trafficking in persons and the smuggling of migrants, with guidelines based on information and legal knowledge, is encouraging. At an interactive session on media reporting on human trafficking, smuggling of migrants and bonded labour, Mr Kundi underlined key areas: protection for the identity and dignity of victims, assessment of law enforcers’ performance, and the need for media to connect sufferers with legal aid provided by the government and NGOs.

Unfortunately, we are saddled with a mammoth menace because the government has failed to provide citizens with a professional police force and empowered women, child and labour protection departments that are free from charges of patronage. Despite significant legislation in 2018, the Prevention of Trafficking in Persons Act and the Prevention of Smuggling of Migrants Act, the rights of victims of human trafficking and smuggling remain compromised due to poor enforcement. While Pakistan ratified the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children in 2022, it is not among the signatories to the UNTOC’s Trafficking in Persons Protocol. We need drastic reforms focused on uprooting the culture of impunity and official collusion for effective enforcement of the law, while bearing in mind that transnational organised crimes are conquered through sound strategies, based on practices and procedures stipulated in global conventions. Long cursed with the acceptance of social sins, the state has to understand that its infamy creates an unsafe environment for marginalised people. And that socioeconomic progress evades unsafe nations.

Published in Dawn, October 27th, 2024