Pakistan upgraded from Tier 2 watchlist in US Trafficking in Persons report

APP

WASHINGTON: The US State Department report on Trafficking in Persons (TIP), released on Tuesday this week, upgraded Pakistan to Tier 2 “watchlist”.

The reports call for action against domestic trafficking in human beings, in which Pakistan has been upgraded from Tier 2’s watchlist to Tier 2. Being on Tier 2 ‘watchlist’ is tantamount to a warning signalling the risk of being downgraded to Tier 3 for the lack of progress.

Tier 2 are countries that do not meet the TVPA (Trafficking Victims Protection Act”) minimum standards for the elimination of human trafficking but are making significant efforts to be in compliance.

“The Pakistani government does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so” states the report. The report is based on the performance of 188 countries in 2021.  The report was launched by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at a ceremony at the State Department.

“The [Pakistan] government demonstrated overall increasing efforts compared with the previous reporting period, considering the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, if any, on its anti-trafficking capacity; therefore Pakistan was upgraded to Tier 2,” the report said.

These efforts, according to the report, included increasing investigations, prosecutions, and convictions under the 2018 Prevention of Trafficking in Persons Act (PTPA).

“The [Pakistan] government referred more victims to protection services. The government’s provincial departments increased implementation of standard operating procedures (SOPs) on victim identification, referrals and training of stakeholders” the report noted.

“The government allocated resources for the implementation of the National Action Plan (NAP) and amended the PTPA to remove provisions that allowed fines in lieu of imprisonment for sex trafficking crimes with women and children as victims.”

In addition, Pakistan has also been removed from the Child Soldiers Prevention Act (CSPA) list.  That list identifies foreign governments that have government-supported armed groups that recruit or use child soldiers, a designation that could result in restrictions on certain security assistance and commercial licensing of military equipment.