A unanimous declaration adopted at the end
of a three-day multi-regional conference on human trafficking
organized by IOM called for a rights-based and gender sensitive
approach to tackling the issue.

Delegates from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal,
India, Sri Lanka, Iran, Afghanistan and Central Asian states
gathered for the first time in Islamabad from February 21-23 to
strengthen cooperation among the countries to prevent human
trafficking, protect victims and prosecute perpetrators of this
crime.

"Together, we studied best practices to
provide protection and care to victims of trafficking, identified
the gaps, and discussed policy implications and prosecution
mechanisms," said IOM's regional representative in Islamabad,
Hassan Abdel Moneim Mostafa, in his concluding remarks. "The
brainstorming sessions have shaped the Conference Statement and I
hope it will be a useful tool to counter trafficking in the
region."

Experts recommended mapping vulnerable groups
and identifying trafficking routes in the region and beyond. They
called for raising awareness of targeted communities by utilizing
print and electronic media. Safe migration policies, alternative
livelihood options for trafficking victims and vulnerable groups
were also recommended.

Other topics of discussion included finding
better definitions in the regional context to help provide justice
to trafficking victims; understanding the scope and complexities of
human trafficking to develop improved referral systems; the
development of a regional protocol for repatriating trafficked
victims and "behaviour change" campaigns to address social
misperceptions concerning victims in origin, transit and
destination communities.

To help bring traffickers to trial, the
experts discussed extradition treaties; setting up a South Asian
Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) police unit;
establishing a regionally shared database with information on
victims, traffickers, and the status of prosecution; writing a code
of conduct for licensed labour recruiting agencies and travel
agents and standard guidelines and capacity-building of law
enforcement and judicial officials.

The conference was part of an innovative
process that started two years ago with the formation of the
Pakistan Thematic Group on Human Trafficking (PTGHT), bringing
together a variety of stakeholders and providing them with
voluntary membership to a forum to study the crime, understand its
complexities in keeping with Pakistan's unique geographical,
cultural, and traditional heritage.

"The conference is a step forward. It will
help create cooperation on counter-trafficking activities between
governments, civil society and international organizations at the
regional level," said Shameela Ahmed, IOM programme coordinator for
the Pakistan Thematic Group, which is funded by the Canadian
International Development Agency's Programme for the Advancement of
Gender Equality.

For further information, please contact:

Darren Boisvert

IOM Islamabad

Tel:1 92 300 856 0341

Email: "mailto:dboisvert@iom.int" target="_blank" title=
"">dboisvert@iom.int