ISLAMABAD, April 12: Globalization has facilitated the mobility of money and goods but unfortunately human mobility across the borders has been restricted more rigidly which combined with poverty and the desire for a better life leads towards horizontal as well as vertical dimensions of human trafficking, said Prof Alia Khan of the Quaid-i-Azam University.

She was delivering a lecture on "Human trafficking and poverty linkages" at the Society for Human Rights and Prisoners Aid. She said Pakistan was also involved in this global problem: being the country of origin, transit and destination simultaneously, and a multi-pronged strategy was needed for combating the menace efficiently.

Ms Khan emphasized that to counteract the dilemma, a mainstreaming approach understanding the complex dynamics associated with this international issue was need of the hour.

The major factors driving the dynamics of trafficking include poverty, lack of human capital and empowerment, lack of skills and gender discrimination, all leading to increased vulnerabilities, she said.

An understanding of the entire economy of trafficking would be quite helpful to address the problem in its broader perspective and in this regard acquiring the remedial measures like women's empowerment and dealing with gender inequalities would incorporate all the social and human capital building.

She said a very important aspect that was usually not paid due attention related to an equally effective check upon the supply as well as demand factors. She said despite being a signatory to the Saarc convention on preventing and combating trafficking in women and children, and the prevention and control of human trafficking ordnance 2002, no considerable progress had been made towards their practical implementation in Pakistan.

Syed Liaquat Banori, chairman SHARP, said the ordnance needed to be made more inclusive as there was no provision for internal trafficking that constituted a major part of the problem.

He stated that despite promulgation of the ordnance the rules had not yet been framed which were creating problems in effective implementation of the law. He emphasized that the liaison and coordinated efforts of civil society, government and the international agencies would accentuate the remedial approach positively.