Rising human trafficking

Unemployed youth try to reach Europe and other developed parts of the world to escape poverty and for a better future, but these hard-pressed innocent young souls, not much in the know of the ways of the world, fall into the trap of traffickers. As a result of the slowdown in economic activity due to the Covid-19 pandemic, an increasing number of jobless youth from Pakistan are trying to get away from the vicious cycle of poverty and shrinking job opportunities in the country. Most such attempts prove futile as in the process credulous young men lose all their family savings to traffickers and land in jails in Iran, Turkey, Greece, Poland and Italy. Crooks lure the desperate youth into the dream of a life of luxury and plenty in developed countries, but abandon them in transit countries like Iran and Turkey where they are put in prison under the law of the land. In jail, these youth suffer physical and mental torture and ultimately are deported to their home country penniless with their dreams shattered.

Now 2,500 Pakistanis are languishing in prisons in Iran, Turkey and Greece. Those intending to enter Europe are first taken to Iran, sometimes as pilgrims, and from there to Turkey and to the Greek border in trucks and containers. On the way some are shot dead by security forces of these countries, many are sent to jail, and a good many are waylaid by bandits who deprive them of all their valuables. Traffickers charge Rs400,000 per person for Iran and Turkey and Rs1 million for Greece. Often human smugglers take as much as $10,000 from the client families through illegal money transfers. Around 200 Pakistanis had been deported from Greece, Italy and Turkey in the past three months. Despite claims by the authorities that swift action is being taken to end the menace of trafficking, the racket drags its dreary length, perennially profitable for human smugglers.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 14^th, 2020.

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