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There have been 1 million Bangladeshi and more than 200,000 Burmese women
trafficked to Karachi, Pakistan. (Indrani Sinha, SANLAAP India, "Paper
on Globalization & Human Rights")
200,000 Bangladeshi women have been trafficked to Pakistan for the slave
trade and prostitution. (Trafficking in Women and Children: The Cases of Bangladesh,
p.8, UBINIG, 1995)
.200,000 Bangladeshi women were trafficked to Pakistan in the last ten years,
continuing at the rate of 200-400 women monthly. (CATW
- Asia Pacific, Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific)
In Pakistan, where most of trafficked Bengali women are sold there
are about 1,500 Bengali women in jail and about 200,000 women and children
sold into in the slave trade. (estimates by Human Rights organizations
in Pakistan, Trafficking in Women and Children: The Cases of Bangladesh,
p.14, UBINIG, 1995)
India and Pakistan are the main destinations for children under 16
who are trafficked in south Asia. (Masako Iijima, "S. Asia urged to
unite against child prostitution," Reuters, 19 June 1998)
More than 150 women were trafficked to Pakistan every day between 1991
and 1993. (Indrani Sinha, SANLAAP India, "Paper on Globalization & Human
Rights")
100 - 150 women are estimated to enter Pakistan illegally every day.
Few ever return to their homes. ("Rights-South Asia: Slavery Still A
Thriving Trade," IPS, 29 December 1997)
There are over 200,000 undocumented Bangladeshi women in Pakistan,
including some 2,000 in jails and shelters. Bangladeshis comprise 80
percent, and Burmese 14 percent, of Karachiąs undocumented immigrants.
(Zia Ahmed Awan, affiliate with Lawyers for Human Rights and Legal Aid,
Sindh police report in 1993, "Rights-South Asia: Slavery Still A Thriving
Trade," IPS, 29 December 1997)
A Bengali or Burmese woman could be sold in Pakistan for US$1,500 -
2,500 - depending on age, looks, docility and virginity. For each child
or woman sold, the police claim a 15 to 20 percent "commission." ("Rights-South
Asia: Slavery Still A Thriving Trade," IPS, 29 December 1997)
Women kidnapped at the Pakistan-Afghanistan border are being sold in
the marketplace for R600 per kilogram as of 1991. (CATW - Asia Pacific,
Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific)
Auctions of girls are arranged for three kinds of buyers: rich visiting
Arabs (sheiks, businessmen, visitors, state-financed medical and university
students), the rich local gentry, and rural farmers. (CATW - Asia Pacific
"Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific" (19)
19,000 Pakistani children have been trafficked to the United Arab Emirates
(UAE). 160,000 Nepalese women are in Indian brothels. (LHRLA, Indrani
Sinha, SANLAAP India, "Paper on Globalization & Human Rights")
Orphaned girls are sold as Świvesą to men who may resell them (CATW
- Asia Pacific, Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific)
Methods and Techniques of Traffickers
Bangladeshi and Burmese women are being kidnapped, married off to agents
by unsuspecting parents, trafficked under false pretenses, or enticed
by prospects of a better life, into brothels in Pakistan. Border police
and other law enforcement agencies are well aware of the trafficking
through entry points into Pakistan like Lahore, Kasur, Bahawalpur, Chhor
and Badin. (Sindh police report in 1993, "Rights-South Asia: Slavery
Still A Thriving Trade," IPS, 29 December 1997)
Nepalese and Bangladeshi woman and girls are trafficked under false
pretenses, such as jobs, then are forced into prostitution in brothels
in Pakistan. (CATW - Asia Pacific, Trafficking in Women and Prostitution
in the Asia Pacific)
A rise in trafficking of girls, aged 8-15, in Pakistan has occurred
during this last decade. (CATW - Asia Pacific, Trafficking in Women
and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific)
Policy and Law
Trafficked women are further victimized by the police and the legal
system, which treat them as criminals. The women are booked under Pakistan's
controversial 'Hudood Ordinances.' The Zina Ordinance, which comes under
the Islamic Hudood Ordinance, makes adultery or sex outside marriage
a crime against the state. Women and girls in prostitution are often
charged with Zina. Sometimes, they are booked under the Passport Act.
Either way, they have to spend long periods in prison. For illegal immigration,
the sentence is four years, but many women end up serving three or four
years extra, either waiting for trial or to clear immigration formalities.
(Nausheen Ahmed, "Rights-South Asia: Slavery Still A Thriving Trade,"
IPS, 29 December 1997)
The governments of Pakistan in the last 26 years have established three
commissions of inquiry into the sexual exploitation of women. However,
the government under Bhutto in the seventies, the Zia regime of the
eighties and the present government have all disregarded the commission's
recommendations. (Binoo Sen, National Commission for Women India, "Paper
on Political Commitment")
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