Doha: Qatar's legislators are working on a law to combat human trafficking, a growing phenomenon that a visiting UN official defined as particularly serious in the Gulf country.
The announcement came as the UN representative said the UN Human Rights Centre for Training and Documentation for the South West Asia and Arab region would open in Qatar's capital Doha in early 2007.
"There are efforts being exerted to formulate a law on human trafficking that will defined the crime and punish the traffickers accordingly," Mariam Al Maliki, coordinator at the National Office for Combating Trafficking in Humans (NOCTH) told reporters.
"In the meantime Qatar is adopting the principles expressed by several international conventions and laws on the issue of human trafficking and its prevention," she said.
Al Maliki said Qatar had taken new measures to prevent human trafficking. The Emir issued a decree last year banning the use of children as camel jockeys and repatriated over 200 minors from Sudan. In the meantime, Al Maliki said the NOCHT had set up a shelter proving treatment and rehabilitation to victims of human trafficking, in particular women and children.
She said she was particularly concerned about the entry of human traffickers and victims during the upcoming Asian Games to be held in Qatar in the first half of December, when some 200,000 visitors are expected to enter the country.
"We are coordinating with the interior ministry and the Doha Asian Games Organising Committee to make sure we prevent anyone from entering the country with this purpose. The authorities will enhance checks on passengers at entry ports."
There are no statistics about the number of people who fall victim to traffickers in Qatar. However, Sigma Huda, UN Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons, said as the Gulf country relied mainly on foreign workers, the problem of people falling victim to unscrupulous recruitment agencies and sponsors was particularly serious.
"We are concerned in particular for female domestic migrant workers, the most disadvantaged as they remain excluded from the protection of the current labour legislation."
In the meantime, she said the UN will set up the United Nations Human Rights Training and Documentation Centre for the South West Asia and Arab region.
The centre will collect information on human trafficking in the region and provide Governments with expert support in formulating legislation and measures to tackle the crime.
