This Human Trafficking Day, take a closer look — the boy serving you chai might be a survivor, not just a waiter.
This World Day Against Trafficking is themed “Human Trafficking is Organized Crime – End the Exploitation,” the day served as a reminder that trafficking isn’t just a human rights issue, it’s a billion-dollar criminal industry run by powerful transnational networks that prey on the vulnerable. Between 2020 and 2023, over 200,000 victims were detected globally – and that’s just the reported cases. As tactics become more tech-driven and complex, global and national justice systems need to catch up.
In Pakistan, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) partnered with the UNODC, ILO, IOM, and others to showcase progress under the National Action Plan on Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants. From improved data systems to victim support services, there’s been movement, but the challenges are far from over. Officials emphasized that traffickers are exploiting everything from migration routes to legal loopholes, and survivors need more than rescue – they need rehabilitation, rights-based protection, and reintegration into society.
The event came at a critical moment. In mid-December 2024, 35 FIA officers were dismissed for their involvement in a human trafficking network tied to a deadly migrant boat capsizing near Gavdos, Greece. The victims? Mostly Pakistanis. The investigation raised urgent questions about institutional complicity and the gaps traffickers are exploiting within Pakistan’s borders. As Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called for strict crackdowns and mass awareness campaigns, the demand for action has never been louder.
The UN’s 2024 report on trafficking revealed a 25% global surge in victims since 2019, with South Asia named a major hub. Pakistani women and children remain the most vulnerable, trafficked across borders for forced labor, marriage, or sexual exploitation. Speakers from ILO, ICMPD, and IRARA highlighted the importance of decent work, cross-border coordination, and support that puts survivors first – because stopping trafficking requires dismantling the conditions that make people so vulnerable to it.
Pakistan’s fight against human trafficking is now a test of political will, transparency, and institutional reform. We’ve got the laws, but that doesn’t always mean change on the ground, from the 2018 Prevention of Trafficking in Persons Act to the National Action Plan, but whether that translates into long-term justice for victims and punishment for perpetrators remains to be seen. If trafficking is organized crime, then fighting it must be organized resistance.
DNUTN: Why I Need To Look Harder At The Boy Who Serves Me Tea At The Cafe!
Value Your Freedom. This is what Dil Na Umeed Toh Nahi taught me. And also that … we must try to keep the hope alive. Celebrated poet, thinker and champion of free speech Faiz Ahmad Faiz who suffered intense setbacks in life tells us how to keep the hope alive!
Dil Na Umeed Toh Nahi,
Nakaam Hi Toh Hai!
Lambee Hai Gham Ki Shaam,
Magar Shaam Hi Toh Hai
Faiz Ahmad Faiz
Value Your Freedom – But First, Some Hard Facts!
Do you know that 70% of human beings trapped in Bonded Labour in Pakistan are children? Did you know that human trafficking makes up the 3rd largest revenue base from organised crime in Pakistan?
According to reports as recent as 2020 – 264,000 children work as domestic workers? That’s equal to an entire population of some small villages in Pakistan. You might have met them at cafes, serving you food, they often come from deprived, poverty-ridden families and are given jobs in exchange for sexual favours. They are sent to work in the vicinity of hotels & bus stations etc
US Dept of state on Human Trafficking in Pakistan
Do you know that it took 74 years since Independence to outlaw Corporal Punishment in educational institutions in Pakistan?
Credits: TV One
Did you know that Pakistan provincial government’s sex trafficking convictions have gone down over the years, (as in the police does not pursue them to completion), cases of human trafficking are not followed up often by the police because the victims cannot afford legal services? Do you know that many sex trafficking perpetrators are let off a jail sentence in lieu of paying a fine?
US Dept Of StaTe Report 2020 on Human trafficking in pakistan
Also, according to research, those who break out of bonded labor have no where to go & the police has no means to offer them protection? Most NGO’s do not have the resources to house them for long?
Why all the statistics?
I decided to look up all these statistics because I watched Dil Na Umeed Toh Nahi a Pakistani drama aired on TV One, penned with deep sensitivity by Amna Mufti, sharply directed by Kashif Nisar, with a Kashf Foundation narrative that’s giving us mind blowing, content woven in a story that speaks to us in every frame.
Child actors Sadoon Ali, Bonita Malik, & Naseem Zehra’s character are doing a spectacular job & matching up to the talent of seasoned players like Yumna Zaidi, Samiya Mumtaz, Omair Rana, Yasra Rizvi, Naveed Shehzad & Wahaj Ali and others?
Naseem Zehra in DNUTN
Jamshed and Allah Rakhi
Are You Watching?
However, & now … the hard truth. Dil Na Umeed Toh Nahi has one of the lowest views on YouTube compared to many other Pakistani dramas on air currently?
Do you know that PEMRA sought to ban this drama?
DNUTN is not a depressing drama, (for those who flinch at depressing content on prime time TV), rather, it provides hope in the lives of many who seek to break free from a tragic past. The name itself is reminiscent of a poem by Faiz Ahmed Faiz, giving hope for a freedom to come, even as we experience defeat.
Dil Na Umeed Toh Nahi,
Faiz Ahmed Faiz
Nakaam Hi Toh Hai!
Lambee Hai Gham Ki Shaam,
Magar Shaam Hi Toh Hai
Translation:
The heart is not unhopeful, though it has lost so far,
Faiz Ahmad Faiz
The evening filled with sorrow is long, yet it is, but one evening.
May our children live to experience freedom, may they witness the sun rise & may we be there to see it! GO WATCH Dil Na Umeed Toh Nahi because – it will tell you a tale you will never forget, and perhaps next time, you’ll look more closely at that young boy who hands out your chai order at a small cafe tucked away in a scenic area, or, even in your neighbourhood.
