ASIA/PAKISTAN - Trafficking of women and children refugees denounced by NGOs

Islamabad (Agenzia Fides) – It is a growing phenomenon, observed by local NGOs: among the flood refugees there are a rising number of cases of abductions and disappearances of women and children who are victims of human traffickers. The alert, already launched in recent weeks by Fides (see Fides 21/08/2010) is now, through great effort, seeing concrete facts, testimonies, and figures.
According to data from the National Disaster Management Authority, circulated by the NGO "Roshni Missing Children Helpline, 400 cases of missing children have been recorded in the last month. The volunteers of Roshni Missing Children Helpline, an NGO based in Karachi, visited several refugee camps in Karachi, Thatta, Dadu, and Sukkur, conducting a specific investigation on child trafficking. They noted 23 cases of missing children, between 5 and 17 years of age.
"We continue to collect stories from organizations involved on the ground. But the government and international agencies of the United Nations do not want to seriously consider this. Only local NGOs are working on it, because they receive complaints of desperate families affected by it," says Tahira Abdullah Fides, a Muslim human rights activist involved in various national organizations. "There are no official figures because the institutions do not deal with it, so it is impossible to make an adequate estimate," he notes. Therefore, as reported to Fides, many local NGOs are being organized to collect data and stories, especially in the inland areas of Sindh and Punjab.
Here is one of the reports sent to Fides: an large refugee family, composed of several smaller families, took refuge in a camp in the area of Muzaffargarh, in Punjab. Some men brought food to the refugees and all were fed. They then fell into a deep sleep, because the food was drugged. In the morning, they realized that all the girls in the family, between 14 and 18 years had disappeared. "These are criminal gangs that enter the tent areas. In these cases, probably, the girls are forced into prostitution," notes Tahira Abdullah.
For children, however, their fate is the network of organized beggars, domestic labor, forced labor, trafficking of drugs or organ transplantation, volunteers say. Haider Yaqub, Pakistani Director of the NGO Plan International, committed to the protection of minors, told Fides: "We know, having worked after disasters like the tsunami or the earthquake in Kashmir, that traffickers seek to benefit from situations of displacement and misery. Currently, we operate in three districts of Sindh and three in southern Punjab, and we have not found serious cases of child abduction, but only cases of missing children whom we strive to reunite with their family. However, I fear that the phenomenon is growing. We are conducting a research to collect data and cases.
In a note sent to Fides, the Asian Human Rights Commission, urging Pakistani institutions to take appropriate action, said: "In this flood disaster, there is a lack of planning, coordination, and concrete measures to help women and children avoid violence, including that of human traffickers." (PA) (Agenzia Fides 20/09/2010)