Abu Dhabi: Hatem Ali, regional director at the Gulf Cooperation Council’s (GCC) Office of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), has praised Saudi Arabia’s efforts in fighting trafficking and the reforms implemented within this framework at legal and institutional levels.
Ali affirmed that these efforts contributed to improving Saudi Arabia’s ranking in the United Nations’ assessment, as well as in assessments of other countries, with regard to combating human-trafficking, as reflected in the recently-released United States State Department’s Trafficking in Persons Report.
Saudi Arabia has made progress from Tier 3 to Tier 2 in human-trafficking in its report issued by the US State Department related to the classification of countries in this field.
Combating trafficking
It reflects Riyadh’s continued progress in protecting and promoting human rights, and in the area of combating trafficking in particular, said Dr Awwad Al Awwad, chairman of the Saudi Human Rights Commission.
Al Awwad pointed out that Saudi Arabia was making continuous efforts to combat trafficking crimes, out of its commitment to the provisions of Sharia, which prohibits all forms of insult to human dignity and affirms its respect for and preservation of its rights.
“The kingdom attaches great importance to combating trafficking in persons through an integrated system represented in issuing a system to combat trafficking crimes, joining the conventions and protocols dealing with these crimes, forming a committee to combat trafficking in persons, and establishing a department to combat these crimes, in the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development,” he said.
Increased prosecutions
The US State Department’s 2020 Trafficking in Persons Report said Saudi Arabia had made “key achievements” in the last 12 months. It implemented its first-ever national referral mechanism to provide care to victims of trafficking and the government transparently reported data sets, including increased prosecutions and convictions under its anti-trafficking law, according to the report.
It also said that Saudi authorities had “criminally convicted and sentenced to stringent imprisonment two Saudi officials complicit in trafficking crimes during the year”.
Tier 2 countries are not subject to any potential consequences from the US, as the report says they are “making significant efforts” to ensure compliance with US standards for combating trafficking.
Targeting three axes
Meantime, Saudi Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development confirmed that 54 trafficking cases were referred to the competent department for investigation online in 54 offices across the kingdom.
The Ministry worked out of its responsibilities in the labour market, its developmental role and its obligations in the national plan to combat crimes of trafficking, to provide many programmes to combat these crimes, and targeted three axes — namely “Prevention, protection, and prosecution” — out of its keen interest in respecting human rights and safeguarding the dignity of every individual who lives in Saudi Arabia, a statement from the ministry said.
Dealing with the scourge
The ministry sought to build competencies for workers to combat trafficking in persons crimes, the statement said. Citing details of the government’s efforts, the statement said 71 employees at the ministry’s call centre were trained on indicators of trafficking, how to deal with these reports, refer them to the competent authority and start training inspectors and stakeholders from the ministry through courses and workshops, in cooperation with the International Organisation for Migration, starting in mid-February, to combat these crimes.
