ISLAMABAD: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) in a report on Wednesday raised alarm over severe human rights violations faced by irregular migrants.

The report, Perilous Passage: Human Smuggling in Pakistan, produced under the Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim Fellowship shifts the focus from viewing human smuggling merely as a transnational crime to recognising it as a critical issue of human rights abuse.

The HRCP report, which was launched at a press conference, stated that victims of human smuggling were exposed to an array of abuses, including torture, extortion, blackmail, imprisonment, and even death. It said irregular migration through these smuggling networks was often driven by economic desperation.

Despite this, the prevailing narrative tended to frame such migrants as willingly accepting the dangers of illegal border crossings, thus downplaying the severe exploitation they endure. This perception has led to human smuggling being overlooked compared to other exploitative practices such as human trafficking.

The report recounted the harrowing experience of a migrant from Punjab who sought the services of a smuggling network for a dangerous overland journey to Turkey, passing through Balochistan and Iran.

It identified unemployment, lack of opportunities, poverty, insecurity, and conflict as the primary factors pushing individuals toward irregular migration. Human smugglers were described as adept at targeting vulnerable youth, enticing them into perilous journeys.

The operations of these smuggling networks were highly organised, functioning similarly to criminal enterprises, and often perpetuated themselves as former migrants turned into smugglers.

Speakers took turns to point out that despite the enactment of the Prevention of Smuggling of Migrants Act in 2018, which empowered the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to combat human smuggling, the HRCP report suggested that the transnational scale of these operations might be facilitated by the complicity of some FIA officials.

The report called for Pakistan to ratify and implement the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea, and Air. It also urged migrant-destination countries to take responsibility for protecting the rights of irregular migrants.

Additionally, at the press conference, the HRCP recommended that the Prevention of Smuggling of Migrants Act be amended to prioritise human rights, addressing the abuses faced by victims throughout their journey.

The speakers recommended that the FIA should undergo significant reforms to ensure accountability and to address corruption, which allowed smuggling networks to thrive. In the long term, the state was urged to improve economic conditions and create better opportunities to reduce the pressures leading to illegal migration.

“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,” said former PPP senator Farhatullah Babar, one of the key speakers at the press conference.

Mr Babar said human smuggling and trafficking was a human rights and welfare issue. He said the Saarc Convention on Trafficking in Women and Children of 2002 was in limbo because the state was 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 the trafficking and re-trafficking of refugees, he said.

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

Published in Dawn, August 29th, 2024