Trafficking can’t be stopped …
… Unless poor and needy victims stop taking risk
Titus Filio
Contributor
There are rackets. So are willing victims.
The trafficking of poor and needy, including women and minors – to work in Bahrain remains a thorny issue for Bahrain and the countries supplying manpower.
One reality that hounds anti-trafficking authorities on both sides is that all victims are not lured.
There have been many willing partners in the underground cross-border trade.
Trafficking can’t be stopped …
… Unless poor and needy victims stop taking risk
Titus Filio
Contributor
There are rackets. So are willing victims.
The trafficking of poor and needy, including women and minors – to work in Bahrain remains a thorny issue for Bahrain and the countries supplying manpower.
One reality that hounds anti-trafficking authorities on both sides is that all victims are not lured.
There have been many willing partners in the underground cross-border trade.
At one shelter, a distressed foreign worker – a minor who was brought into Bahrain as a housemaid – admitted to the Tribune that there were five of them who knew that their ages were faked in their passports.
“We knew we were carrying fake passports. Only our photos were there but not our names and ages,” said the 17-year-old who was brought into Bahrain by rogue recruiters.
Some labourers, mostly from the subcontinent, admitted that they paid large sums for the “high-paying jobs”. They did not bother to check whether the promise was genuine or not. Later they found out that rogue recruiters had duped them.
“We were just willing to take whatever job that was available. Some were willing to list themselves as construction foremen though they did not have experience,” 28-year-old construction worker Rashdi said.
He was in a group of Asians which sought the help of a rights organisation after they were forced out of their BD40-a-month job in a construction company.
They have no recourse to justice and admitted that they just “took the risk” when recruited for Bahrain two years ago.
Asian embassies have been vocal about human-trafficking. The Philippine embassy, for example, reported some cases of nationals aged 16-18 brought to Bahrain to work as housemaids.
Human-trafficking has taken centre stage with the International Organisation for Migration conducting a training workshop for government enforcers.
Bahrain has passed a new law to check human-trafficking. Focus is on procedures and rules for documentation, keeping of passports and how to determine minors, among others.
But boarder control is possible only if the countries involved address it. “We cannot stop them from entering the country if they have legitimate papers. If they are being trafficked something must be done by the immigration on their country,” said a personnel from the Ministry of Interior attending the workshop.
Article from: Bahrain Tribune Newspaper- www.BahrainTribune.com
