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| November 22, 2005 | Tuesday | Shawwal 19, 1426 |
Quake survivors vulnerable to trafficking
ISLAMABAD, Nov 21: The director general International Organisation for Migration (IOM), Brunson McKinley, here on Monday said a large number of quake survivors were vulnerable to trafficking abroad. “Some unscrupulous elements and business people could take advantage of people’s desperation in the earthquake-hit areas where a lot of families’ heads have died and survivors are more vulnerable to trafficking abroad,” Mr McKinley said while briefing newsmen about the IOM relief efforts in earthquake-hit areas.
He said he had on Monday discussed with interior minister, Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao the issue of human trafficking. He said the interior minister informed him about the government’s efforts to curb human trafficking by banning adoption of survivors until new adoption rules were sorted out.
Responding to a question, Mr McKinley said although the Pakistani government’s move to ban adoption did not deal with trafficking directly but still its efforts were appreciable. He said President General Pervez Musharraf’s move to establish Ashiyanas (buildings where the survivors who lost families could live) was a move in the right direction.
“We want them (business people) not to exploit the miseries of the innocent boys and girls”, the IOM, DG, said. He said natural calamities like Tsunami and earthquakes provided new business opportunities to human traffickers in the affected regions.
He said the IOM had no plans to leave Pakistan. The organisation was still appealing the international community for more donations to the relief efforts. To date, he said, IOM had spent a total of $ 9,246 million.
Mr McKinley said IOM would work here in coordination with the Pakistani military, which, he said, was the backbone of the ongoing relief efforts. He said the organisation would utilise expertise gathered from the rebuilding accomplished after the tsunami struck South East Asia in the affected areas.
To date, the IOM had provided emergency shelter assistance to more than 45,000 persons throughout the affected regions, Mr McKinley said.
This include the delivery of more than 5,000 winterised family tents, 75,000 blankets, 3,000 mattresses, 14,000 buckets, and 1200 plastic sheets. These items also included the ones donated by the Dutch, Italian and Japanese governments, he said.
A particular effort was being made to afford assistance to the so far unreachable areas like Haveli Tehsil of Bagh or Allai Valley north of Batagram.
But he said winter and bad weather could be another challenge for the relief efforts though at present the conditions were good for relief operations.
He said the IOM in cooperation with the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC), United Nations Joint Logistic Centre (UNJLC), United Nations Helicopter Assistance Service (UNHAS), Islamic Relief, the Pakistani military and other partners, focused on providing shelter assistance to earthquake- affected communities between an altitude of 5,000 and 7,000 feet.
In the operation, known as “Winter Race”, he said, the IOM, Islamic Relief and IFRC teams were taken to isolated villages to assist reconstruction, deliver self-built shelter kits to victims and provide assistance and training to vulnerable groups.
By the end of November, he said, the IOM would have delivered more than 10,000 shelter kits, which included corrugated galvanised iron (CGI) roofing sheets, tools, nails, buckets, rolls of plastic sheet, plastic tarpaulins and non-food items such as blankets and mattresses.
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