No market for prostitution in Bahrain, official says

Manama: An interior ministry officer denied there was a market for prostitution in Bahrain.

"We categorically deny the existence of such a market in Bahrain and we are looking into reports claiming there were attempts to deceive girls into prostitution in Bahrain," the head of the general directorate of investigations said yesterday.

The officer was reacting to a report published by RIA Novosti, the Russian news agency, on Thursday quoting the Federal Security Service as saying that "border guards in the southern Russian republic of Daghestan have detained two people on charges of attempting to sell two girls into sex slavery in Bahrain".

According to the report, the two girls, both in their late teens and from Kabardino-Balkaria, another North Caucasus republic, were stopped during passport control for a flight from Makhachkala, Daghestan's capital, to Sharjah, UAE, from where they would be transported to Bahrain and "sold into prostitution".

"A probe established that the girls were deceived into leaving their home town of Prokhladny in Kabardino-Balkaria. The people detained were a woman believed to be a member of an international human trafficking group, and her accomplice, a police officer from the girls' home town," RIA Novosti said.

The Bahraini interior ministry officer said that the authorities would contact their counterparts in Daghestan for further details on the case.

Trafficking in people is now under intense scrutiny from the Bahraini authorities following local and international calls that more efforts are needed to tackle the issue.

Manama will on March 1 host an international conference dedicated to the discussion of national strategies to combat human trafficking and ways to enhance coordination with the private sector.

The three-day event, under the patronage of Shaikha Sabeeka Bint Ebrahim Al Khalifa, the king's wife, will be attended by government officials from the Gulf.

Last week, Bahraini rights activist Faisal Fuladh charged that the failure of some government parties, the private sector and NGOs to act decisively on the issue meant that little progress has been achieved in stopping the exploitation of women.

The true scope of human trafficking is not known, but around 2.5 million people worldwide are estimated to be held in forced labour, including sex slavery.