United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

Pakistan

Rolling out nation-wide Public Awareness Campaign against Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants (TIP and SOM)

Islamabad, 24 September 2018 - UNODC Country Office in Pakistan in collaboration with the Federal Investigation Agency is rolling out nation-wide Public Awareness Campaign against Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants (TIP and SOM). UNODC is assisted by the European Union through its GLO.ACT initiative, United States Department of State and Australian Department of Home Affairs, in this awareness campaign. The aim of the campaign is to increase awareness on the risks, issues an d challenges in Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants, to create community-led efforts as well as a national discourse on the topic and ultimately engage policy makers. 

The awareness campaign is rolling out at the national level with a focus on high risk areas and utilizing several institutionalized tools to engage stakeholders including distribution of brochures and display of banners in key districts, a social media page focused on TIP and SOM, and the dissemination of public service messages through local and terrestrial radios as well as through Short Messaging Services (SMS). The roll out has officially commenced from Monday 24, September 2018 throughout Pakistan.  

During 6 months' time, UNODC COPAK will distribute 500,000 leaflets, display 1200 banners across highways and important landmarks, including airports and railway stations, disseminate one million messages on mobile phones, air public service messages across the country. The campaign also has social media component in which youth is targeted through Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Currently an overall outreach of 68000 people has been achieved through social media in just the period of two weeks.

Trafficking in Persons within Pakistan accounts for thousands of people being forced into bonded labor at brick kilns, in agriculture, the carpet industry and majority of the victims are women and children. Criminal networks have become increasingly good at luring vulnerable people into being exploited. More and more efforts are needed to help prevent TIP and SOM. Recent enactment of laws to prevent Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants in 2018, is a great achievement of the Government of Pakistan. These laws not only define Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants as separate crimes but also highlight the importance of public awareness. UNODC urges civil society organizations, NGOs, media and academia to plays their vital role in helping to raise awareness and to prevent TIP and SOM. 

Mr Cesar Guedes, Representative UNODC Pakistan, has reaffirmed his commitment to the Government of Pakistan and said that "We need to mobilize all the relevant stakeholders to empower the institutions and promote innovation in conventional approaches. When it comes to awareness raising we must target the community from grassroots level to have a deeper impact". He added that "Much more needs to be done in terms of raising awareness amongst a broader section of society, including local communities, policy makers, local government representatives and the media".   

UNODC realizes the fact that it is crucial for the government and civil society to work in close partnership to fight human trafficking and migrant smuggling. The fight will only succeed in a joint effort by raising the level of awareness among masses and relevant stakeholders. This campaign has a great importance because it combines both prevention with protection strategies which will in turn benefit civil society organizations as well as victims of trafficking and smuggled migrants directly.  

Please read, like and share social media pages in the following links:

For more information, please contact:

Ms. Shahida Gilani, Programme Officer Human Trafficking and Migrant Smuggling

Email: Shahida.gillani@unodc.org