• Amendments to two bills to stem illegal exodus awaiting Senate nod
• Organised beggary made criminal offence on request of Gulf countries
• Experts say harsher sentences ineffective without reforms in monitoring, prosecution mechanisms
On February 17, five bills were passed by the National Assembly without any debate on the floor. Two of these bills pertained to a pressing humanitarian, legal and diplomatic crisis facing Pakistan — human trafficking and smuggling.
More than a month later, the Prevention of Trafficking in Persons (Amendment) Bill, 2025 and the Prevention of Smuggling of Migrants (Amendment) Bill, 2025 have yet to become laws as they are pending approval from the Senate.
The government has proposed changes to the Prevention of Trafficking in Persons Act, 2018 and the Prevention of Smuggling of Migrants Act, 2018 at a time when hundreds of Pakistanis, over the past few years, perished in the Mediterranean Sea and North Atlantic Ocean while trying to reach Europe from Africa.
Most recently, at least 100 Pakistanis died in tragic boat accidents last December and January after remaining adrift in open seas for days while trying to enter Europe.
A report by the UN’s International Office of Migration last year said 7,867 Pakistanis arrived in Italy by land or sea. The number of Pakistanis in Greece and Cyprus — two other countries considered gateway to Europe was — 1,178 and 320, respectively.
The government, under pressure to act to stop the illegal exodus, has proposed amendments to make punishments for trafficking and smuggling offences more stringent, dedicated a special court to prosecute cases of cross-border trafficking, added “organised beggary” as an offence, and perhaps, most consequentially, removed the criminal liability of trafficking victims.
Amendments
The government has proposed amendments to several sections of the Prevention of Trafficking in Persons Act, 2018, to increase punishments for crimes like sexual exploitation and human trafficking.
Under the amendment proposed in Section 3, organised beggary has been added, along with sexual exploitation, as a motive for human trafficking. The punishment for the crime has been increased from up to seven years in jail to 10 years.
Currently, the provision allows for convicts to either be sentenced to a jail term or slapped with a fine of Rs1 million or both. However, the amendment proposed both fine and jail term for convicts.
For the trafficking of women and children, the punishment has been increased from two to 10 years to up to 14 years. It has also mandated both jail term and fine of up to Rs2m for convicts.
An amendment proposed to Section 4 states that if a trafficking victim dies or suffers serious injuries, if the accused is part of an organised crime group, if the accused destroyed travel documents of a victim or if the accused is a repeat offender, they would be punished with a jail term not less than 14 years and a fine of up to Rs2m.
Previously, the jail term was three to 14 years and fine.
The proposed amendments have also made human trafficking offences non-compoundable to remove the possibility of out-of-court settlements.
Similar amendments have been proposed to the Prevention of Smuggling of Migrants Act, 2018.
The punishment for human smuggling has been increased from three to five years in jail and Rs1m fine to up to 10 years in jail and Rs10m fine.
Forgery to enable smuggling has been made punishable by a jail term of three to 10 years and a fine of up to Rs5m. Previously, the punishment was one to three years in jail and up to Rs1m fine.
For offences where victims suffer life-threatening illness or die, the punishment has been proposed to be increased from five to 14 years in jail and a fine of up to Rs2m to seven to 14 years and a fine of Rs10m.
Experts fear that these amendments — focused excessively on the severity of punishment — would do little to curb human smuggling without structural changes to ensure robust prosecution of criminals and addressing social factors that compel people to make these perilous journeys.
While talking to Dawn, Tariq Khosa, the former director-general of FIA, said the amendments focused on the severity of punishment rather than ensuring their certainty. “This won’t solve the problem.”
However, the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD), which works with governments on migration issues, said the proposed amendments were “laudable” and show Pakistan’s seriousness in curbing human trafficking.
According to Fawad Haider, the head of ICMPD in Pakistan, disrupting human trafficking networks also requires “proactive law enforcement and victim-centred policies”.
Criminal liability
One of the amendments proposed to the Prevention of Trafficking in Persons Act, 2018, is to expand protective mechanisms for victims to not hold them liable for trafficking.
Currently, the law states that victims will not be “criminally liable” for the offences and may become witnesses in the case.
However, the proposed amendment looks to expand the scope of this immunity by not holding the victims liable for offences “in obedience to the order made by the trafficker”.
The amended provision states that the immunity will only be for victims’ actions that were a “direct result of force, fraud or coercion” by traffickers.
This immunity, Mr Haider said, is an integral part of anti-trafficking legislation around the world.
“[It] ensures the rights of victims are safeguarded, and the consequences of the force and/or coercion that traffickers hold on their victims (such as forcing them to commit crimes, into prostitution, to produce or traffic drugs, or forge documents, etc.) is correctly recognised by Court.”
He called for better training of law enforcement officers and judiciary to effectively understand and implement this immunity in their practice.
Mr Khosa said the proposed amendment was a “positive move” but pointed out that the provision made no distinction between genuine victims and repeat offenders.
The women and children, who are sent abroad illegally, are genuine victims but those who travel again and again for greener pastures and become victims should be held criminally liable, he added.
The Senate should improve this provision to ensure that repeat offenders are not treated as victims, added the ex-FIA chief.
Another amendment has proposed that in case the victim is a minor, the consent of their guardian for the offence of trafficking will be “irrelevant” and not considered a defence in court proceedings.
Organised beggary
While human trafficking remained a pressing crisis for the government, it was also faced with another challenge — Pakistanis who travel on valid documents but indulge in illegal acts like beggary in destination countries.
Over the past few months, Gulf countries — the preferred destinations of these delinquents — have raised the issue with Pakistani authorities.
The UAE has even imposed an unannounced ban on visas for Pakistanis, reportedly for their involvement in criminal activities.
In the Prevention of Trafficking in Persons Act, 2018, the government has proposed making “organised beggary” an offence with a jail term of up to 10 years and a fine of up to Rs1m.
As per the legislation’s preamble, the amendment has been proposed at the request of Pakistani missions overseas who have sought “stern action against those involved in begging and the gangs behind them”.
However, Mr Khosa said a better approach to dealing with the issue of organised beggary would have been bilateral, regional or global mechanisms of cooperation between law enforcement agencies.
He cites the framework between Pakistan, Iran, Turkiye and Greece between 2005 and 2010, where law enforcement agencies of all four nations worked together against transnational networks of human smugglers. Interpol was added as a facilitator to arrest and extradite human smugglers.
According to Mr Khosa, Pakistan is a signatory to and ratified trafficking in person protocol under the UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime. However, the convention on the smuggling of migrants hasn’t been ratified.
This hampers effective facilitation from agencies of transit and destination countries on this issue.
More needs to be done
Mr Haider of ICMPD said punitive measures, as outlined in the amendments, must be paired with “effective governance and systemic reforms” that target the root causes of human smuggling.
“[E]conomic empowerment, education, and raising awareness (around the risks of trafficking) help address some of the push factors which lead people into vulnerable situations,” he added.
There is a need for a “whole-of-government approach” and focused campaigns aimed at informing potential victims to curb human smuggling.
There should be a national action plan against the smuggling of migrants with more proactive action by law-enforcement agencies against these crimes, Mr Khosa said.
He added that an inter-agency task force headed by the interior minister was already in place. “How many meetings did that task force hold?” he questioned.
Mr Haider recommended “full implementation” of the Integrated Border Management (IBM) — a global good practice — which involves inter-agency and international cooperation and strengthening of law enforcement and judicial capacities for effective prosecution and internal accountability.
“Prioritising a victim-centred protection system also helps the vulnerable and law enforcement with their investigations.”
Mr Khosa added that the government should periodically review anti-human trafficking and smuggling laws to identify gaps and share their practices to ensure that the accountability mechanism keeps evolving as organised crime networks become more intricate. “[Otherwise], these stop-gap arrangements won’t work.”
Published in Dawn, April 6th, 2025
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