US warns Pakistan of sanctions on human trafficking
By Arshad Sharif
ISLAMABAD, Feb 3: The US has conveyed its concerns to Pakistan on human trafficking and asked it to take appropriate measures before 2003 to avoid sanctions blocking non-humanitarian aid and adverse US vote at all multilateral donor forums.
Sources said if minimum standards for combating trafficking were not implemented before 2003, the US would withhold non-humanitarian assistance and non-trade related aid. Moreover, the US executive director of each multilateral development bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) would be directed to vote against non-humanitarian assistance, unless continued assistance was deemed to be in the US national interest.
Sources also said, if the sanctions regime was applied in the case of human trafficking, the US financial support for educational and cultural exchanges would also be on the chopping block.
Sources said the concerns about human trafficking, through and into Pakistan, were conveyed by the US ambassador to Pakistan Wendy Chamberlin in a meeting with the interior minister, Moinuddin Haider.
Sources said ambassador Chamberlin emphasized a three-pronged approach of prevention, protection and support for victims, and prosecution of traffickers.
In a carrot-and-stick approach, the US has also offered to provide assistance for programmes and activities designed to meet the minimum international standards for the elimination of trafficking.
But, if the government failed to adopt the minimum standards for combating trafficking, sources said, the US would place sanctions on Pakistan depending on the country report to be prepared by the US secretary of state.
Sources said the US Congress under the “Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act” mandated the State Department to bring out an annual “trafficking in persons” report with a view to withholding US aid from countries that did not adequately address the issue by 2003.
The US Congress, sources said, has directed the secretary of state to include information on trafficking in persons in the annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, including a list of foreign countries that are countries of origin, transit, or destination for a significant number of victims; a description of the nature and extent of severe forms of trafficking in persons in each country; an assessment of the efforts by governments to combat trafficking and information on a country-by-country basis.
Diplomatic sources said during 2001, Pakistan was blacklisted by the US and 22 other countries to combat human trafficking.
