Det er hårdt nok at leve med et handicap i den pakistanske by Karachi, men at være i risikozonen for at blive offer for human trafficking er en ny udfordring for byens tiggere.
KARACHI, 14 March 2011 (IRIN) – Hundreds of people with disabilities are being trafficked to neighbouring countries to beg there, according to the police. Many come from the southern province of Sindh, and are destined for Iran.
In the past few months, said Khadim Hussain Rind, a district police officer in the Khairpur District of Sindh, 200-300 disabled persons have been “transported to Iran for beggary”. The numbers could be higher but some cases are not reported to police.
“The gang of traffickers is spread all over the province,” said Salam Dharejo, child labour manager with the NGO Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child. Trafficking, he added, was a growing problem in both Khairpur and Shikarpur districts.
A recent survey by the NGO found that some poor parents were being paid a lump sum of Rs 10,000-20,000 (ca. ml. 630-1260 kr.), and offered a share in proceeds from begging, in exchange for allowing their disabled children to be taken to Iran.
In Iran, the disabled Pakistanis, both children and adults, are taken to beg outside shrines or mosques.
Others are simply kidnapped. In February, 28-year-old Raham Ali, who is paralysed in his right arm and leg, was brought back to Khairpur following complaints to the police by an aunt. The traffickers were later arrested.
“My nephew was kidnapped and Rs. 100,000 (ca. 6300 kr.) demanded for his return,” the aunt, Lal Pari Gopang, said.
Relatives of other people living with disabilities are scared of similar incidents. “We have heard about the abductions, and it is disturbing since my 12-year-old son, who was born with deformed legs, goes out to beg near a hospital here,” Siddiqa Bibi, 35, told IRIN. “He is terrified he will be abducted; these stories are circulating among beggars.”
Mujahid Shaikh, who made his way back to Khairpur after being trafficked to Iran, and now begs at the railway crossing, said there were “hundreds of persons [from Pakistan] with disability, including children” living in captivity in Iran.
Læs videre på: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportID=92183
