Dastak organized two one-day trainings for police officers and public prosecutors from six divisions of Lahore on Legal and Institutional Response to Sex Trafficking of Women and Girls on 6 and 7 July 2025. The two workshops were attended by 62 police officer and 6 public prosecutors. The workshop was led by a legal expert Asad Jamal supported by Dastak’s legal team. Although TIPA 2018 is part of the official police training curriculum, this was the first time the officers participated in an in-depth workshop on the law and its practical application.

Key takeaways from the workshops were:

1. Prevention of Trafficking in Persons Act (TIPA) 2018 prevails over general and provincial laws and empowers police to register FIRs even without victim complaints.

2. Human trafficking ≠ human smuggling: trafficking is process and exploitation-driven; smuggling is transactional but can turn exploitative.

3. Victim consent is legally irrelevant – officers must assume victim status and protection until proven otherwise.

4. Investigation hurdles (lack of evidence, victim withdrawal, weak coordination) must be addressed through better documentation, intelligence use, and prosecutor support.

5. Survivor-centered policing is critical to build trust and encourage victim cooperation.

The workshop reinforced that TIPA 2018 overrides PPC and provincial provisions, victim consent is irrelevant, and police are empowered to register FIRs independently of victim or family complaints. Survivor-centered policing is critical to build trust and cooperation, yet investigation hurdles, such as lack of evidence, victim withdrawal, jurisdictional confusion, and weak coordination, remain unresolved.

The attitudes and information levels displayed during the workshop highlighted the urgent need for even more comprehensive and consistent capacity-building, legal clarity, and cultural change within law enforcement.