Migrant smuggling and human trafficking.

and extreme povAerty in various countries have made many millions of men, women, and children vulnerable to trafAficking and smuggling. Spurred by the twin crises of rising inAflation and unemployment, scores of Pakistanis are crossAing national borders through illegal routes. They are evenAtually victimised by people who exploit their poverty and helplessness. Due to the prevalent economic strain in the country, peoAple fleeing across borders are regardAed as 'economic migrants.' The enorAmity of the issue is exemplified in the fact that thousands of Pakistanis are at present imprisoned in various counAtries on charges of violation of immiAgration laws and tampering with travel documents. Labour scarcity, aging popAulations, and economic opportunities in destination countries are pull factors for legal and illegal migration. SmugAglers and traffickers are exploiting such opportunities in the existing internaAtional system that leave people suscepAtible to enslavement and violence.

Many of the criminals work hand in glove with networks located in Iran and Turkey. They entice young people toAwards fanciful dreams and trap them to pay a heavy price which in contemAporary parlance is dubbed as Modern Slavery. Alarmingly, a trend of girls trafAficked from Pakistan to China, through fake nuptial knots, has also emerged. Many stories about the trafficking of brides, forced prostitution and organ harvesting have proliferated in the reAcent past. Fictitious Chinese grooms and matchmaking agencies lure teenAage girls into marriage, employment, and stay and deceitfully transport them to the black market of sex and organ transplant in China.

Emphatically, the concepts of smugAgling and trafficking have to be clearAly distinguished in print and electronic media. The press reports, articles, and interviews must be very categorical to sensitise the public on the issue rightAly. The training for journalists and acaAdemia on the difference between trafAficking in persons and smuggling of migrants can also be beneficial. The conAcepts of 'human smuggling' and 'huAman trafficking' are distinct from each other. The key difference between the two is freedom of choice. The first, unAlike trafficking, does not involve the eleAment of coercion, and it is always transAnational; in other words, it requires a person willingly agree to gain illegal entry into a foreign country. Whereas, trafficking aims to exploit the victims sexually or physically. It involves...