In Pakistan, boys and girls as young as five are bought, sold, rented or kidnapped and placed in organised begging rings, domestic servitude, small shops and factories, and prostitution, says a US report.
The US State Department’s 2013 report on human trafficking notes that boys are more vulnerable to sex trafficking, particularly around hotels, truck stops, bus stations and shrines.
The report describes a structured system for forcing women and girls into prostitution, including the presence of physical markets in which victims are offered for sale.
Women and girls are also sold into forced marriages; in some cases their new ‘husbands’ move them across land borders and force them into prostitution in Iran or Afghanistan, and in other cases, sometimes organised by extra-judicial courts, the transaction is used to settle debts or disputes.
The report points out that the country’s largest human trafficking problem is bonded labour, in which traffickers or recruiters exploit an initial debt assumed by a worker as part of
the terms of employment, which sometimes persist through generations.
Bonded labour is concentrated in Sindh and Punjab, and also takes place in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, in agriculture and brick-making and to a lesser extent in the mining, carpet-making, and fishing industries.
The report notes that in some cases, when bonded labourers attempt to escape or seek legal redress, police return them to the landowners and brick kiln owners who then hold labourers and their families, including children, in chains in private jails.
Illegal labour agents charge high recruitment fees to parents for giving work to their children, who are subsequently subjected to forced labour and sometimes forced into prostitution.
Non-state militant groups kidnap children or coerce parents into giving away children as young as nine with fraudulent promises or threats and then force the children to spy, fight, or die as suicide bombers in Pakistan and Afghanistan. These militants often sexually and physically abuse the children and use psychological coercion to convince the children that the acts the children commit are justified.
Many Pakistani women and men migrate voluntarily to the Gulf states, Iran, Turkey, South Africa, Uganda, Maldives, Greece, and other European countries for low-skilled employment such as domestic work, driving, or construction work; once abroad, some become victims of labour trafficking.
False job offers and high recruitment fees charged by illegal labour agents or sub-agents of licensed Pakistani overseas employment promoters increase Pakistani labourers’ vulnerabilities to debt bondage. Pakistani workers abroad face restrictions on movement, non-payment of wages, threats, and physical and sexual abuse.
Traffickers use violence, psychological coercion and isolation, often seizing travel and identification documents as a means to coerce Pakistani women and girls into prostitution.
There are reports of child sex trafficking between Iran and Pakistan, and of Pakistani children and adults with disabilities who are forced to beg in Iran. Pakistan is a destination for men, women, and children from Afghanistan, Iran and, to a lesser extent, Bangladesh, who are subjected to forced labour and prostitution. Afghan refugees and religious and ethnic minorities are particularly vulnerable to human trafficking. In 2012, six Pakistani victims were subjected to human trafficking in Malawi.
The report claims that the government of Pakistan does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of human trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so. Despite these measures, the government still showed insufficient political will and capacity to address trafficking fully, as evidenced by ineffective law enforcement measures, the punishment of trafficking victims, and limited efforts in trafficking prevention.
Government officials’ complicity in human trafficking was a persistent, serious problem.
Saturday, June 22, 2013
Pakistan: Human Trafficking Report:Govt officials complicit in human trafficking: Boys, girls forced into slavery, sex trade
In Pakistan, boys and girls as young as five are bought, sold, rented or kidnapped and placed in organised begging rings, domestic servitude, small shops and factories, and prostitution, says a US report.
The US State Department’s 2013 report on human trafficking notes that boys are more vulnerable to sex trafficking, particularly around hotels, truck stops, bus stations and shrines.
The report describes a structured system for forcing women and girls into prostitution, including the presence of physical markets in which victims are offered for sale.
Women and girls are also sold into forced marriages; in some cases their new ‘husbands’ move them across land borders and force them into prostitution in Iran or Afghanistan, and in other cases, sometimes organised by extra-judicial courts, the transaction is used to settle debts or disputes.
The report points out that the country’s largest human trafficking problem is bonded labour, in which traffickers or recruiters exploit an initial debt assumed by a worker as part of
the terms of employment, which sometimes persist through generations.
Bonded labour is concentrated in Sindh and Punjab, and also takes place in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, in agriculture and brick-making and to a lesser extent in the mining, carpet-making, and fishing industries.
The report notes that in some cases, when bonded labourers attempt to escape or seek legal redress, police return them to the landowners and brick kiln owners who then hold labourers and their families, including children, in chains in private jails.
Illegal labour agents charge high recruitment fees to parents for giving work to their children, who are subsequently subjected to forced labour and sometimes forced into prostitution.
Non-state militant groups kidnap children or coerce parents into giving away children as young as nine with fraudulent promises or threats and then force the children to spy, fight, or die as suicide bombers in Pakistan and Afghanistan. These militants often sexually and physically abuse the children and use psychological coercion to convince the children that the acts the children commit are justified.
Many Pakistani women and men migrate voluntarily to the Gulf states, Iran, Turkey, South Africa, Uganda, Maldives, Greece, and other European countries for low-skilled employment such as domestic work, driving, or construction work; once abroad, some become victims of labour trafficking.
False job offers and high recruitment fees charged by illegal labour agents or sub-agents of licensed Pakistani overseas employment promoters increase Pakistani labourers’ vulnerabilities to debt bondage. Pakistani workers abroad face restrictions on movement, non-payment of wages, threats, and physical and sexual abuse.
Traffickers use violence, psychological coercion and isolation, often seizing travel and identification documents as a means to coerce Pakistani women and girls into prostitution.
There are reports of child sex trafficking between Iran and Pakistan, and of Pakistani children and adults with disabilities who are forced to beg in Iran. Pakistan is a destination for men, women, and children from Afghanistan, Iran and, to a lesser extent, Bangladesh, who are subjected to forced labour and prostitution. Afghan refugees and religious and ethnic minorities are particularly vulnerable to human trafficking. In 2012, six Pakistani victims were subjected to human trafficking in Malawi.
The report claims that the government of Pakistan does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of human trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so. Despite these measures, the government still showed insufficient political will and capacity to address trafficking fully, as evidenced by ineffective law enforcement measures, the punishment of trafficking victims, and limited efforts in trafficking prevention.
Government officials’ complicity in human trafficking was a persistent, serious problem.
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