Call to look into reasons why youth was leaving the country

Liaquat Ali

Islamabad: “In addition to adopting legislative and administrative measures to combat growing human smuggling we also need to ask ourselves as to why young people are leaving the country despite multiple hazards and address the root causes of massive illegal migration from the country.”

This was stated by President Human Rights Cell PPP ex senator Farhatullah Babar at an advocacy meeting on human trafficking organized by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) in a local hotel in Islamabad today. Human smuggling and trafficking is a human rights and welfare issue and has little place in a state driven by security paranoia, he said.

He said that the SAARC Convention on Trafficking in Women and Children of 2002 lies in limbo because a security driven state is not prepared to talk about anything other than security.

The hasty expulsion of Afghan refugees recently was also driven by so-called security considerations and resulted, according to UN Rapporteurs, in trafficking and re-trafficking of refugees, he said.

The “Prevention of Smuggling of Migrants Bill” passed in 2018 has several shortcomings he said and called for revisiting it in consultation with human rights bodies, civil society organizations, academics, legislators and most importantly the victims.

Pakistan served as recruiting ground for those who are trafficked to the Gulf, as a destination point for migrants from Bangladesh, Myanmar and Afghanistan and as a transit point for migrants from Far East on their way to the Gulf countries but the current legislation does not address these distinct characteristics, he said.

He called for raising awareness at the grassroots level, outreach to sensitize government officials, and emphasizing the de-stigmatization of victims.