News Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Under the EU-funded GLO.ACT – Global Action to Address Trafficking in Persons and the Smuggling of Migrants (GLO.ACT – Asia and the Middle East), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), in collaboration with the Federal Investigation Agency, organized a high-level consultation workshop for National and Provincial Anti-Human Trafficking Committees on Wednesday.
According to a press statement here, this high-level national consultation aimed to provide an opportunity for all the members of National, provincial, and district-level anti-trafficking committees to meet and deliberate on their objectives.
There were three main objectives of the consultation. First, there is a lack of understanding of trafficking by law enforcement officers. Secondly, there is a tendency to consider irregular migrants as offenders only but they are also victims. Thirdly, there was a lack of coordination among relevant actors at the federal, provincial, and district levels.
The lack of coordination and understanding of the distinction between trafficking, irregular migration, and smuggling of migrants was well brought out in the consultation. This consultation gave a more holistic framework for coordinated approaches. During his welcome remarks, Dr. Jeremy Milsom, Representative UNODC Country Office Pakistan, said “Curbing human trafficking and migrants smuggling requires a coordinated response at all levels. Realizing this fact, the government of Pakistan notified provincial and district-level TIP Coordination committees earlier this year. We, as UNODC, are very pleased with this action by Pakistan and commend the efforts. We hope that there would be great coordination and synergy amongst all the stakeholders and that the activities will be conducted in a coordinated matter at all levels including Federal, Provincial, and District levels.”
He further added, “The foundation for curbing TIP and SOM must be the Palermo Convention on Transnational Organized Crime, to which Pakistan is a signatory.
