IOM has organized a two-day workshop in Lahore to strengthen the
capacity of Pakistan's legal establishment to combat human
trafficking.

The workshop, which was funded by the US Department of State's
Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, was
organized  with the cooperation of the Ministry of Law,
Justice and Human Rights, the Lahore High Court Bar Association,
the Punjab Bar Council, Lahore Bar Association and the District
Courts Narowal.

Attendees included lawyers from the Punjab Bar Council, the
Lahore High Court Bar and the Lahore Bar Association.

The Chief Guest Speaker, Anwar Kamal, President of the Lahore
High Court Bar Association, said that although there has been a
strong commitment of the Federal Investigative Agency (FIA) of the
Ministry of Interior (MOI) to implement the Protection and Control
of Human Trafficking Ordinance 2002, its principles have yet to be
mainstreamed in the administration.

"It is important to coordinate the FIA's efforts with the
magistrates and lawyers who are in charge of the effective
implementation of the Ordinance," he noted.

Mehmood Saleem, Secretary of the Ministry of Women and
Development, called for more advocacy events at district and
grass-roots level and said that the Ministry will continue to
provide support to women victims of trafficking.

"There are 25 women centres all over Pakistan which provide
legal and medical aid and shelter to victims and we have plans to
establish more centres across the country within two years," he
said. 

The workshop also included panel discussions to promote
inter-institutional cooperation for anti-trafficking measures.
Panellists included representatives from the Migration Management
Cell of the MOI and the internal cell FIA, the Gender Reform Action
Committee from the Ministry of Women and Development, and NGOs
working on human trafficking and legal issues.

For further information, please contact:

Maha Qazi

IOM Islamabad

Tel:  +92.300.8526599

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