Child trafficking from South Punjab continues

Despite strict legislation by states…

Meeran Karim

 

LAHORE

In spite of anti-human trafficking laws adopted by the Middle Eastern countries and measures taken by the Child Protection and Welfare Bureau to combat the use of Pakistani children as camel jockeys, the trafficking of children in Southern Punjab continues, The News has learnt.

In an interview with this correspondent, Shaheen Ahmad, a father of three and a resident of Chak 72 in Rahim Yar Khan, said he had recently sold his son for the purpose of camel jockeying to an agent from the nearby area. He said that his family had little money to purchase necessities for the coming months and the agent had promised him a hefty amount in return for his son. The father said the agent had promised that his son would lead a quality of life abroad. However, Ahmad regrets selling his son in exchange for money and lofty promises after hearing the story of local families who had been involved in the banned child camel jockey trade.

Ahmad said the trade was thriving in the backward areas of the province, albeit a lot more discretion than before. He said the agents were more discreet than before in their scouting and were involved in the business of sending three to ten years old children to participate in lesser known camel racing tournaments in the remote parts of the Middle East. He fears that his son might become a victim of the torture and psychological trauma faced by child camel jockeys from Pakistan and other the Middle Eastern countries. Ahmad also highlighted the growing trafficking of children and young girls for prostitution in the Middle Eastern countries from Southern Punjab.

On the pretence of domestic work and education, he said, young girls were deceived into going abroad and deprived of their passports upon arrival there. Even as laws have been made against trafficking, the practice will continue as long as poverty and economic frustration exists, said Ahmad.

According to popular perception in civil society and policy-making circles in Pakistan, the practice is said to have continued till the end of 2009, when different NGOs, including Ansar Burney Trust International, pressurized governments in the Middle Eastern countries to adopt strict laws banning the use of children as camel jockeys in races. The government of Pakistan also introduced and ratified the Prevention and Control of Human Trafficking Ordinance, which bans the trafficking of all Pakistani children for inhuman sports.

As per the Ordinance, inhuman sports are defined to “include all sports involving, as a matter of normal course, infliction of physical or mental injury on a person against his will, intention or reasonable expectation”. It is relevant to note here that the sport of camel jockeying, according to information provided by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), requires that children of a dangerously low weight be tied to the back of the camel to scare it into racing with their screams. After talking to officials in the Child Protection and Welfare Bureau, the Social Welfare Department in Punjab and civil society activists, it became apparent that the perception of child camel jockeying being eradicated was popular across the board.

Talking to The News, Assistant Director at the Bureau Fiaz Ahmed Butt said the Bureau had closed its special rehabilitation centers for returned child camel jockeys in Multan and Rahim Yar Khan after providing counselling to the child victims of the sport. Butt said the Social Welfare Department of Punjab was given the responsibility of looking after the financial compensation of the child jockeys in 2009.

The representative of Child Protection and Welfare Bureau said that, seven to eight years ago, 342 child camel jockeys had been recovered and returned by the Ministry of Interior with the help of FIA and Unicef, Pakistan. He said that 700 to 800 Pakistani child camel jockeys arrived in Pakistan by their own means and due to help provided by different civil society organizations. In response to corruption with regards to monetary compensation allocated for child camel jockeys, Butt said there was no possibility for corruption as pay cheques were made in the name of the children and their families/guardians after a detailed procedure of clearance in the Ministry of Interior that required birth certificates and other documents.

Executive Director of the Democratic Commission for Human Development (DCHD) Sher Zaman said the Commission had worked with Anti-Slavery International, a British NGO, in 2004 to document the problem and had concluded its efforts after laws were passed by the Middle Eastern countries banning the trafficking of children. Zaman said the rehabilitation centers set up by the Bureau were only interested in returning children to their families, and inadequate psychiatric counselling and education for child victims for only two to three months had negative consequences for their reintegration in society as productive citizens.

Zaman said the compensation money was yet to reach many child victims in Southern Punjab and, resultantly, the families were likely to get re-involved in illicit activities for money. Zaman said the backwardness of Southern Punjab needed to be addressed by the provincial and federal government, if human trafficking was to be eradicated. The activist said families in Rajanpur and Rahim Yar Khan were desperate to sell their children into the human trafficking business as unemployment and poverty was rampant.

Zaman alleged that certain individuals within FIA in Punjab allowed children with fake travel documents to board planes as these individuals were being bribed and working as agents for organizers of camel races in the Middle Eastern countries.

Former federal minister and chairman of the Ansar Burney Trust International, Ansar Burney told The News that the practice of using child camel jockeys had come to an end. Burney said that he had visited the Middle Eastern countries six to seven times a year and witnessed a drastic change in the human trafficking trade in these countries. Burney, however, said corruption was rampant in Pakistan and claimed that both the provincial and federal governments in the past years had failed to distribute the compensation money to the victims. Due to this, Burney said the child victims had yet to get surgery to have their damaged organs repaired in the sport. The human rights activist said that his organization had made multiple appeals to past governments but to no avail.

Burney said that he had visited a government school set up for returned child camel jockeys and found 150 students sitting in their uniforms with no teacher in sight. He said that officials guilty of malpractice in FIA had yet to be tried for being complicit in the trade.

The chairman of the Ansar Burney Trust International said poor implementation of anti-human trafficking laws in Pakistan should be addressed with due seriousness to avoid the trafficking of young girls into prostitution on the pretext of domestic work.

A representative of the Social Welfare Department, Mushtaq Ahmed said the department was currently providing a monthly grant of Rs 600 to returned child camel jockeys registered with the department, whereas those above the age of 18 were provided with pay cheques for Rs 72,000 in compensation upon production of CNIC. Ahmed said 300 to 800 children were receiving compensation and efforts were being made to have access to the remaining child victims. Additionally, educational stipends are being provided to them. The compensation is intended to make these children able to start their own businesses and obtain gainful employment, said the Social Welfare Department officer.

Responding to claims of malpractice and corruption, Director General of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in Islamabad, Ghalib Bandesha told The News that no FIA official had been found guilty of letting passengers with fake travel documents travel and the agency had undertaken all efforts to end the practice of illicit child camel jockey trade.

DG Bandesha said FIA counters in airports and borders were solely charged with the duty of checking the validity of travel documents and it was the job of embassies of foreign countries to not issue visas to those individuals making false declarations of identity and family relations abroad.

Curtsey:The News, Monday, July 21, 2014