The committee held its meeting on Friday and discussed issues pertaining to licensing, rejection of post-graduate medical degrees in Saudi Arabia, and human trafficking cases.
The meeting was chaired by Senator Hilal-ur-Rehman and was attended by senior officials from Ministry for Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination, and Federal Investigation Agency.
While taking up the issue of the issuance of licenses for overseas employment, the committee was informed that at present, there were more than 2246 Overseas Employment Promoters (OEPS) in the country. The licenses are renewed based on their performance while they are cancelled for reasons including extracting money from intending emigrants for overseas jobs, non-resolution of emigrants’ complaints, misconduct or violation of Emigration Ordinance.
The committee was of the view that mass awareness campaigns must be pursued to ensure that all emigrants were aware of their rights and that they knew whom to contact in time of need.
Regarding the issue of human trafficking, the committee directed the FIA to submit details of the 400 referred cases by next Monday. Moreover, the company said the agency must formulate a mechanism for the resolution of these cases.
The issue of Pakistani migrants imprisoned in a migrant camp in Vuejak, Bosnia, also came under discussion. The committee was informed that most of these migrants did not wish to return. The committee directed the Foreign Ministry to contact the Bosnian Embassy and find out what could be done to bring back those Pakistani citizens who wished to return. The total number of migrants in this camp is 10000, out of which 4000 are Pakistani nationals.