In a first, Pakistan launches hotline for reporting human trafficking cases

In this file photo, taken on June 15, 2023, migrants who were rescued at open sea off Greece along with other migrants, after their boat capsized, are seen inside a warehouse, used as shelter, at the port of Kalamata, Greece. (REUTERS/File)

• Islamabad widened its crackdown against human trafficking rings since the Greek boat tragedy in June this year
• Hotline will ensure ‘prompt response’ to human trafficking cases, says FIA Additional Director Shireen Malik Sher

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) launched the country’s first hotline to register complaints against human trafficking in the country, state-run media said on Thursday, with a senior official saying it would ensure “prompt response” to complaints.
Pakistan has widened its crackdown on human traffickers since June this year after around 300 Pakistanis died when a rusty trawler sank near Greece’s Peloponnese peninsula.
Every year, thousands of young Pakistanis embark on perilous journeys attempting to enter Europe illegally in search of a better life. Human trafficking rings around the country exploit poor Pakistanis who are desperately in need of jobs, and lure them with promises of a better life in Europe.
“Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), for the first time in the country, on Thursday launched a national Trafficking In Persons (TIP) Hotline,” the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) said in a report.
It added that the initiative was funded by the Australian High Commission through the International Labour Organization (ILO).
At a ceremony held to launch the hotline, FIA Additional Director Shireen Malik Sher said this was the first initiative of its kind that would have a mechanism to ensure a “prompt response” to human trafficking complaints.
Sher explained how the hotline would work, adding that after a call was received on the hotline, the TIP official would send a complaint against the traffickers to concerned police stations across the country with a single click.
“And trafficking victims will be referred to the concerned departments for welfare,” the APP said.
FIA Director General Mohsin Hassan Butt described the hotline as a “pivotal moment” in the fight against trafficking in person crimes. 
He said the system represented an “evolutionary stride” toward a more coordinated, efficient, and harmonized approach to reporting cases across the country, the report added.