News
Saturday, June 08, 2013
Does poverty lead to human trafficking in Pakistan?By Ahtesham Azhar
KARACHI: When she was a child, her mother often said daughters bring good fortune, but now it seems a curse.
11-year-old Sana, who lives at a shelter home now, was sold by no one else, but her own parents to a couple for Rs 2,000 per month. Coming from the rural areas of Punjab, the child was sold into domestic servitude by the parents knowingly. Sana started working as domestic help at the couple’s house, who owned her, while her family was sent Rs 2,000 in advance at the beginning of each month.
She lived in Gulberg with her buyers, who made her work for extended periods of time with barely enough food or at times, no food.
Her ‘employers’ tortured her for a couple of years physically as well as mentally. Her body still bears burn marks that her abusers made to torture her into compliance.
It is not the only case in our society, nor an isolated case of parents involved in human trafficking. In documents, Pakistan is considered a source, transit point, and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to trafficking for forced labour, prostitution with a rising trend in buying children for domestic servitude.
Article 3, paragraph (a) of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons defines Trafficking in Persons as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs.
There are three constituent elements in human trafficking, including what is done, how it is done and why it is done.
Sana faced not just the trauma of being sold by her own parents, but also repeated abuse by the people who had absolute control over her being.
Rescue: One day, a call was made to Shireen Aijaz, the Regional Co-coordinator of ‘Aurat Foundation’ regarding a Child Abuse Case. The caller informed her that in her neighbourhood, a couple used to torture a girl, who is from Punjab and worked as a servant. The caller further informed that he had witnessed his neighbours abusing the girl for a long time.
Taking notice of the matter, the foundation raided the house along with the police, which nabbed the couple and her guardian. Later, Sana, the victim was shifted to Panah Shelter.
Talking to Daily Times, Aurat Foundation Head Mahnaz Rahman said that the reason behind rising violence against children is illiteracy and wrong use of power. “The need of the hour is to change social behaviour,” she said.
She was of the view that previous Sindh Assembly has done admiring work for women by passing the domestic violence bill, but the implementation is yet to be done. “Women have started raising voice against violence in villages particularly by which they face more violence including killing in the name of honour,” she asserted.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk