By Asim Hussain
ISLAMABAD: Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), for the first time in country, on Thursday launched a national Trafficking In Persons (TIP) Hotline for national referral mechanism and management information system (MIS) for the general public to ensure the provision of service to victims of human trafficking under one roof, in collaboration with the International Labour Organization (ILO). Director General FIA Mohsin Hassan, along with ADG Immigration, FIA, country representative of UNODC, Australian Deputy High Commissioner, Director ILO, US Political Advisor, other dignitaries, senior FIA officers from the provinces, also attended the ceremony.
Shireen Malik Sher, Additional Director, FIA, who is the focal person of the project, worked under the supervision of Israr Ahmed Khan, Director Anti-Human Smuggling Directorate of FIA and accomplished the Project in a very short span of time.
The project was funded by Australian High Commission through International Labour Organization (ILO). Shireen Malik Sher, sharing the main features of the project, told APP that this was the first-ever initiative which would have the mechanism to ensure a prompt response. After receiving the complaint on hotline, the official concerned at TIP facilitation center would send complaint against the traffickers to the concerned police stations across Pakistan with a single click and trafficking victims will be referred to the concerned departments for welfare, she added. Addressing the audience, DG FIA, Mohsin Hassan Butt said National TIP Hotline project for National Referral Mechanism represented a pivotal moment in the fight against Trafficking In Person crimes. Acknowledging the periodic reporting by the Government of Pakistan on international obligations, this system represented an evolutionary stride towards a more coordinated, efficient, and harmonized approach to reporting across the country, he said adding it was not just a system but a catalyst for change, thus enhancing the capacity of FIA to address Trafficking In Persons comprehensively. Speaking on the occasion, the Australian Deputy High Commissioner lauded the efforts, put forth by FIA and ILO to launch this application which would be a revolutionary step towards warding off the menace of human trafficking in all its forms. In the concluding remarks, DG FIA Mohsin Hassan Butt expressed profound gratitude for the United Nation Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) for extending help to FIA and added the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had been a proud partner in a longstanding and fruitful collaboration with UNODC. He said that the National Action Plan to combat Trafficking In Person and Smuggling of Migrants was formulated together with UNODC to set a comprehensive agenda for the collective efforts.
