ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Law & Justice and Human Rights Azam Nazeer Tarar on Tuesday said the government was taking steps to prevent human trafficking as it was its responsibility to provide its citizens a peaceful living environment.
He was addressing as the chief guest at the launch of report “Perilous Journeys: Unraveling Irregular Migration from Pakistan”, organized by the National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) in collaboration with the International Organisation on Migration (10M) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Denmark
The Law Minister said that the main reason behind the problem of irregular migration could be poor economic conditions due to which someone had to leave their siblings, parents and other loved ones.
“They leave and are forced to live in difficult conditions in another place. During illegal migration one has to go through many painful stages, during this process many fatal incidents also happened. As seen happening, the survivors of these accidents fall into the hands of human traffickers who push them into a life of slavery at very low prices,” he added.
Azam Tarar said that it was the state’s responsibility to deal with the multi-faceted problems faced by the people due to illegal and irregular migration by providing them favourable living environment at home.
He appreciated the efforts of NCHR, saying that due to its report, there would be progress towards the measures which could not be done in the past to stop illegal migration.
The report would be presented at all the relevant forums including cabinet so that concrete steps could be taken to end illegal migration from Pakistan, he added.
NCHR Chairperson Rabiya Javeri Agha, in her remarks, said tha tthe Commission, through the aimed to comprehensively examine the landscape of irregular migration originating from Pakistan.
“It also emphasizes the distinction between human trafficking and migrants smuggling while shedding light on the drivers of migration, gaps in policy and legislation and the associated human rights abuses,” she added.
Chief of Mission IOM Mio Sato said that irregular migration was one of the most pressing issues of the time.
She said that there were 281 million international migrants worldwide, almost 3.6 percent of the total world population, and the trend was increasing due to conflict, violence, political instability as well as climate change and other disasters.
She called for joining hands to address the issue at every level.
