In 2017 Pakistan was a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced labour and prostitution.
Th largest human trafficking problem was bonded labour, concentrated in the Sindh and Punjab provinces in agriculture and brick making, and to a lesser extent in mining and carpet-making.
[4] Boys and girls are also bought, sold, rented, or kidnapped to work in organized, illegal begging rings, domestic servitude, prostitution, and in agriculture in bonded labour.
Moreover, traffickers used violence, psychological coercion and isolation, often seizing travel and identification documents, to force Pakistani women and girls into prostitution in the Middle East and Europe.
[5] The government’s lacklustre attitude towards the issue is worrisome because nearly half of the population of Pakistan constitutes women of which a large proportion is threatened by traffickers.
Even women that have been retrieved from trafficking networks face the risk of re-victimisation due to a lack of protection and general awareness amongst society.
Several sections in the Pakistan Penal Code, as well as provincial laws, criminalize forms of human trafficking such as slavery, selling a child for prostitution, and unlawful compulsory labour, with prescribed offences ranging from fines to life imprisonment.
Government officials and civil society report that judges have difficulty applying PACHTO and awarding sufficiently stringent punishments, because of confusion over definitions and similar offences in the Pakistan Penal Code.
[5] In efforts to enhance victim identification practices, FIA officials and more than 250 law enforcement officers participated in anti-human trafficking training in 2009, provided in partnership with NGOs and governments of other countries.
Various Pakistani government agencies provided venue space, materials, and travel and daily allowances, and law enforcement officers led and taught some of the training workshops.
The government continued to lack adequate procedures and resources for pro-actively identifying victims of trafficking among vulnerable persons with whom they come in contact, especially child labourers, women and children in prostitution, and agricultural and brick kiln workers.
The FIA and the police referred vulnerable men, women and children, many of whom were trafficking victims, to federal and provincial government shelters and numerous NGO-operated care centres.
In September 2009, the government opened a rehabilitation centre in Swat, which included a team of doctors and psychiatrists, to assist child soldiers rescued from militants.
The government encouraged foreign victims to participate in investigations against their traffickers by giving them the option of early statement recording and repatriation or, if their presence was required for the trial, by permitting them to seek employment.
[5] During 2009, the Government of Pakistan completed a four-year project to repatriate and rehabilitate child camel jockeys who had been trafficked to the United Arab Emirates.
The federal and provincial governments also collaborated with NGOs and international organizations to provide training on human trafficking, including victim identification, protective services, and application of laws.
The Punjab provincial government continued implementation of its $1.4 million project, Elimination of Bonded Labour in Brick Kilns (launched in 2008).