WASHINGTON, June 6: The US State Department said on Tuesday that millions of people still work as bonded labour in industries across Pakistan. The department’s 2006 report on human trafficking describes Pakistan as a source, destination, and transit country where men, women, and children are traded for the purposes of sexual exploitation and involuntary servitude. Pakistan children are still used camel jockeys in Gulf states, the report adds.
Another major problem identified in the report is that of rape and abduction victims being punished under the Hudood Ordinance.
“Unconfirmed estimates of Pakistani victims of bonded labour in the brick, glass, carpet, and fishing industries are in the millions,” the report notes.
Pakistan, however, is placed in a better category – tier-2 – than India which has been placed in tier-2 watch list of countries where “the absolute number of victims of severe forms of trafficking is very significant or is significantly increasing.”
New Delhi is also accused of not doing enough to stop ‘modern-day slavery.’
India has rejected the US report as incorrect. “On the subject of trafficking in persons, as with other areas, we reject judgmental and prescriptive approach by a foreign government,’ external affairs ministry spokesperson Navtej Sarna told reporters in New Delhi.
Pakistan is placed among the countries “whose governments do not fully comply with … the minimum standards (for the elimination of trafficking) but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards.”
The report notes that Pakistani workers in Gulf states, Iran, Turkey, Greece and Iraq “often find themselves in situations of involuntary servitude” and are also subjected to ‘physical or sexual abuse.’
“Pakistani girls are also reportedly trafficked to the Gulf for sexual exploitation and Pakistani boys are trafficked primarily to the UAE and Qatar to serve as camel jockeys.”
The report points out that Pakistan also faces a significant internal trafficking problem involving thousands of women and children trafficked from rural areas and “sold to settle debts and disputes or forced into sexual exploitation, domestic servitude, or marriage.”
Women and children from Bangladesh, India, Burma, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan are also trafficked to Pakistan for sexual exploitation and involuntary servitude. In addition, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan, Nepalese, and Burmese women are trafficked through Pakistan en route to the Gulf or Greece, the report adds.
The US State Department, however, notes that this year, Pakistan established a national plan of action to combat trafficking in persons; approved a special cell within the ministry of interior to coordinate its anti-trafficking response; trained police officers, attorneys and judges on anti-trafficking measures; and made progress in investigating trafficking cases. The ministry of interior also opened a shelter for trafficking victims.
“Nonetheless, NGOs report that local governments in Pakistan often prosecute and punish victims of trafficking for prostitution, immigration violations, and adultery under Islamic Hudood Ordinances rather than providing them with protection. The government similarly failed to curb internal trafficking for sexual exploitation and involuntary servitude.”
