Although the most severe penalties, including death for adultery, have never been carried out, the ordinance deters many women from reporting rape and may even encourage rape by police. The Karachi-based Lawyers for Human Rights and Legal Aid estimates that criminal gangs have trafficked some 200,000 Bangladeshi women to Pakistan, often with the complicity of corrupt local officials. Many are sold into prostitution and are subjected to physical abuse. Some 2,000 trafficking victims are detained under criminal charges, mainly for illegal entry or under the Zina ordinances for extramarital sex. Violence against women remains a serious problem.
Women continue to be underrepresented in politics.
The North West Frontier Province and Baluchistan have no women in their provincial assemblies. The HRCP estimates there are 11 to 12 million child laborers, including many bonded laborers, working in brick kilns, carpet factories, farms, and elsewhere. Politicians and landlords reportedly forcibly hold thousands of bonded laborers, despite 1992 legislation outlawing bonded labor and canceling enslaving debts. In October, the International Labor Organization and Pakistan's manufacturers and exporters association signed an agreement requiring that at least 8,000 child laborers be sent to school and that their carpet work be monitored. However, the agreement covered fewer than 40 of the estimated 450 towns and villages where carpets are handwoven.