June 7, 2002	Friday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 25,1423

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WASHINGTON, June 6: Pakistan does not yet fully comply with minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking in humans, but, says a US report, it is making significant efforts to do so.

The report, issued by the State Department on Wednesday, also says the government is drafting new laws that will deal more effectively with trafficking and bring the country’s legal system in conformity with international conventions on the subject.

Pakistan is placed, along with India and Bangladesh, in Tier 2 of the report, that is among countries that do not yet fully comply with minimum standards laid down by an act of the US Congress, but which are making efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards. The lowest rung is Tier 3, and states on that list can have US humanitarian and non-trade assistance cut off.

The report, which was released by Secretary of State Colin Powell at a special briefing and covers the period from April 2001 to March 2002, describes Pakistan as a country of origin, transit, and destination for women and children trafficked for purposes of sexual exploitation and bonded labour. Internal trafficking of women and girls from rural areas to larger cities for sexual exploitation and forced labour also occurs.

The report refers to the continuing problem of children being smuggled out to the Gulf countries for forced employment as camel riders. It says: “Pakistan is a country of origin for young boys who are kidnapped or bought and sent to work as camel jockeys in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. In many cases, Pakistani men and women go to the Middle East in search of work, only to be put into situations of coerced labour, slave-like conditions, or sexual exploitation.”

Pakistan also serves as a destination point for women and children who are trafficked from Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and Central Asia, and women and children from East Asian countries are smuggled via Pakistan to the Middle East.

In the case of India also, the report says, women and children are trafficked to the Middle East and the West for purposes of forced labour and sexual exploitation, and are also trafficked domestically.

The report’s comments on Bangladesh follow more or less the same pattern as its sections on Pakistan and India, but it points out that Dhaka has recently adopted a national plan of action to address child sexual exploitation and trafficking in persons.

It is pointed out that the Pakistan government has established an interagency task force to combat trafficking in humans. The task force has been asked to close legal loopholes and improve interagency cooperation. The government has also begun a process of hiring 30 women personnel who will be responsible for identifying, at 18 border stations, women and children who are victims of trafficking.