Special law on women trafficking demanded in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Peshawar: There is need for a special law on women trafficking for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa that would address the issue holistically. These views were expressed at the end of a daylong provincial conference on “Trends and causes of women trafficking in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa” which was organized by Community Appraisal & Motivation Programme (CAMP). The conference was attended by a large number of people from different walks of life including parliamentarians.
The event was a part of CAMP’s ongoing project on “Building the capacity of relevant stakeholders in countering women trafficking techniques in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa” which was sponsored by DFID (UK Department for International Development) and UNDP (United Nations Development Program) under the Gender Justice and Protection Project (GJP).

Program Manager Advocacy (CAMP) Mariam Khan shared the findings and outcomes of the base line survey conducted by CAMP in three targeted districts of KPK namely Charsadda, Swabi, Chitral, and Landi Kotal Tehsil of Khyber Agency, FATA where trends of women trafficking are extreme.

She said that most of the victims are trafficked to other provinces in the country, mostly Punjab, and families have no way of following up. Among the 50 probable victims who were interviewed, 32% had left home for marriage while 28% were taken by force, 18% left homes for jobs and 16% due to the negative attitude of their families. 14% of the victim admitted that they were subjected to sexual exploitation, 14% were forced into marriage, 6% were asked to get money from parents and 10% were compelled for theft and smuggling of contraband items. As for their final destination, 34% of those interviewed had reached police stations for help, while only 10% managed to get to a shelter. Another 34% ended up in different cities or towns while the remaining did not share information of their final destinations. 

Renowned legal/gender expert Rukhshanda Naz highlighted the national plan of action and policies existing in the country regarding women trafficking. She said that due to non implementation of existing laws and policies Pakistan has been placed in tier 2 watch list this year in the United States trafficking in persons report (TIP) for not complying into the minimum standard regarding prevention, protection and prosecution.

An official from the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) said that FIA has very meager resources to combat the issue adding that it has only 12 officers in 24 districts with no female investigation officers. He said that legally FIA is not authorized to deal cases of internal trafficking.

Provincial Minister for Law, Parliamentary Affairs and Human rights Mr. Barrister Arshad Abdullah was the honored chief guest on the occasion. Addressing the session the minister stressed the need for adoption of a multi-sectoral, integrated approach to address the issue of women’s internal/external trafficking adding that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province will take appropriate measures viz-a-viz special legislation, preventive, rehabilitative measures to combat this menace from the society. He also eulogized “CAMPs” efforts in this regard and assured all-out support on behalf of the KPK government.

Arshad Abdullah said that the government was not oblivious of its obligations and was taking all possible measures to address the root causes of the issue i.e. unemployment, poverty, ignorance etc; He added that the government despite meager resources and worst law and order situation was opening new schools, upgrading the existing ones, creating job opportunities, providing training and skill development of women folk of the society to sort out a durable solution to the issue. He assured that the recommendations of the conference would be implemented in letter and spirit. He said that soon a law would be made that will address all aspects pertaining to this menace.

Earlier Program Manager Development (CAMP) Mr. Tahir Ali Awan in his inaugural address welcomed the Honorable Minister. He said that drastic reforms in laws and policies coupled with the implementation of the national plan of action would curb the issue.