IOM, in partnership with the Ministry of Interior, the Federal
Investigation Agency, the Ministry of Women's Development and the
Provincial Women's Development Department, the Home Ministry of
Sindh, organized a two-day training workshop in Karachi this week
to build the capacity of Pakistani media, lawyers and legal NGOs to
combat human trafficking.

The workshop, funded by the US State Department's Office to
Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, was attended by some 80
participants, including journalists from print and electronic
media, lawyers, NGO representatives and security officials.

Topics under discussion included national policies and
enforcement of the rule of law, best practices to combat
trafficking, the role of different stakeholders and partnerships
with media and civil society to support trafficking victims.

The training also identified challenges faced by media, the
legal community and NGOs when dealing with trafficking issues and
highlighted the importance of gender mainstreaming in law
enforcement activities in Pakistan.

Ikram Sehgal, a political analyst and member of IOM's Business
Advisory Board, who moderated the event, exhorted participants to
play an active role in combating human trafficking. "It is
incumbent upon all of us as human beings to help victims of
trafficking. We must acknowledge these challenges that must be
faced. The media can play a very important part in this by pursuing
the authorities and writing the truth about these Pakistanis living
abroad, in withering conditions, without hope," he said.

IOM Regional Representative for West and Central Asia Hassan
Abdel Moneim Mostafa said that he hoped that the workshop would
help participants to better understand the issues and act. "This is
one of the worst violations of human rights and we need to make our
voices heard. We need to identify concrete recommendations that
will ensure better protection for the victims of this horrible
crime," he noted.

The workshop was part of an IOM capacity-building programme to
develop effective strategies to combat human trafficking and raise
awareness of the issue, particularly in the legal profession. Three
previous workshops trained some 67 civil judges/judicial
magistrates and 96 lawyers in Islamabad and Lahore.

For further information, please contact:

Maha Qazi

IOM Islamabad

Tel:  +92.300.8526599

E-mail: "mailto:mqazi@iom.int">mqazi@iom.int