BAHRAIN (Tier 2 Watch List)
Bahrain is a destination country for men and women
trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and commercial
sexual exploitation. Men and women from India,
Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Indonesia,
Thailand, the Philippines, Ethiopia, and Eritrea migrate
voluntarily to Bahrain to work as formal sector laborers
or domestic workers. Some, however, face conditions
of involuntary servitude after arriving in Bahrain, such
as unlawful withholding of passports, restrictions on
BAHRAIN (Tier 2 Watch List)
Bahrain is a destination country for men and women
trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and commercial
sexual exploitation. Men and women from India,
Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Indonesia,
Thailand, the Philippines, Ethiopia, and Eritrea migrate
voluntarily to Bahrain to work as formal sector laborers
or domestic workers. Some, however, face conditions
of involuntary servitude after arriving in Bahrain, such
as unlawful withholding of passports, restrictions on
movement, non-payment of wages, threats, and physical
or sexual abuse. In addition, women from Thailand, the
Philippines, China, Vietnam, Russia, Ukraine, Morocco,
Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon are trafficked to Bahrain for
the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation.
The Government of Bahrain does not fully comply with
the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking;
however, it is making significant efforts to do so. The
government achieved its first trafficking conviction in late
2008 – a conviction for sex trafficking – and instituted a
new visa regime in July 2008 allowing migrant workers
to change employers. Despite these significant overall
efforts, the government did not show evidence of progress
in providing protective services to victims or prosecuting
offenses relating to labor trafficking – the most prevalent
form of trafficking in Bahrain; therefore, Bahrain is placed
on Tier 2 Watch List.
Recommendations for Bahrain: Significantly increase
the investigation and prosecution of trafficking offenses –
particularly those involving forced labor – and conviction
and punishment of trafficking offenders; institute and
apply formal procedures to identify victims of trafficking
among vulnerable groups, such as domestic workers who
have fled from abusive employers and prostituted women,
and refer identified victims to protective services; and
ensure that victims of trafficking are not punished for acts
committed as a direct result of being trafficked, such as
illegal migration or prostitution.
Prosecution
The Government of Bahrain made modest progress in
conducting anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts
during the year, prosecuting its first case under its
January 2008 anti-trafficking statute. The Law to Combat
Trafficking in Persons prohibits all forms of trafficking in
persons and prescribes penalties ranging from three to
15 years’ imprisonment, which are sufficiently stringent
and commensurate with those prescribed for other
grave crimes, such as rape. The Ministry of Interior’s 10-
person specialized unit investigated trafficking crimes,
particularly those involving sex trafficking. It claimed
to have disbanded a prostitution ring and rescued 43
Chinese women believed to be trafficking victims, but
BAHRAIN
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prosecutors reportedly viewed the evidence as insufficient
to pursue legal action. In December 2008, the Public
Prosecutor obtained the conviction of a Thai woman who
was sentenced to three and a half years’ imprisonment
and a $13,250 fine for trafficking three other Thai women
into commercial sexual exploitation in Bahrain. During
the reporting period, the government reportedly closed
several manpower agencies alleged to have confiscated
workers’ passports, switched contracts, or withheld
payment of salaries. The government also ordered 12
employers to pay back and release their workers. It did
not criminally prosecute any employers or labor agents
for forced labor of migrant laborers, including domestic
workers, under its new anti-trafficking law. The law
against withholding workers’ passports – a common
practice that restricts the mobility of migrant workers and
contributes to forced labor – was not enforced effectively,
and the practice remained widespread. The Royal Police
Academy provided new police recruits with specific
instruction on identifying trafficking victims during the
reporting period.
Protection
The Government of Bahrain did little to improve
protective services available to trafficking victims over
the last year, though it issued new policy guidance on
the employment conditions of migrant workers. The
government maintains one floor of its shelter for female
migrant workers, but did not provide information
regarding the number of foreign workers assisted or the
types of care the shelter provided to trafficking victims.
The majority of victims continued to seek shelter at their
embassies or through the Migrant Workers Protection
Society, which in April and July 2008 received a project
grant of $15,900 from the Bahraini government to operate
its shelter. The government did not have a referral process
to transfer trafficking victims detained, arrested, or
placed in protective custody to institutions that provide
short- and long-term care. There are no shelter facilities or
protective services for male trafficking victims in Bahrain.
In August 2008, the Ministry of Social Development
established a committee to protect trafficking victims as
part of its obligation under the anti-Trafficking in Persons
law. One of the responsibilities of this committee, as part
of the new law, is its approval for trafficking victims to
remain in Bahrain pending their traffickers’ prosecution;
in the aforementioned case, the Thai victims were offered
the option of remaining in Bahrain to work, but all
three chose to repatriate to Thailand instead. To address
vulnerabilities to trafficking arising from the migrant
labor sponsorship system, the government launched a
new migrant labor visa regime in July 2008 that allows for
workers to change employers and criminalizes the use of
“free visas” that often leave workers stranded in Bahrain
without a job. These regulations do not, however, apply
to domestic workers, which are the migrant workers most
vulnerable to forced labor in Bahrain. The government
continued to lack a formal procedure to identify victims
among vulnerable groups, such as domestic workers
who have left their employers or women arrested for
prostitution. As a result, potential trafficking victims may
have been charged with employment or immigration
violations, detained, and deported without adequate
protection. Most migrant workers who were able to
flee their abusive employers were frequently charged
as “runaways,” sentenced to two weeks’ detention,
and deported. Employers also sometimes filed police
reports against their runaway workers. The government
encouraged victims to assist in the investigation and
prosecution of their traffickers; however, long and
indefinite delays in legal cases, as well as a perceived
bias against foreign workers by judges and prosecutors,
discouraged workers from such involvement in criminal
proceedings against their traffickers.
Prevention
The government’s efforts to prevent trafficking increased
during the reporting period. The Ministry of Interior’s
Human Trafficking Unit produced a brochure describing
Bahrain’s anti-trafficking law and soliciting complaints to
its hotline for investigations; it distributed this brochure
to at-risk groups upon arrival in the country. The Labor
Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA) collaborated with
IOM to produce a pamphlet explaining how to legally
obtain a work visa, workers’ rights, and how to report
suspected violations. Throughout 2008, the CEO of LMRA
and the Minister of Labor conducted press conferences
to highlight illegal practices, particularly withholding
of passports, relating to human trafficking. Despite the
increased level of awareness fostered by these campaigns,
understanding of what constitutes trafficking remained
low. Many people, including courthouse clerks, continued
to believe that it is legal to confiscate workers’ passports,
despite several instances over the course of the reporting
period in which the Minister of Labor explicitly stated
that withholding passports is illegal. In March 2009, the
government hosted a two-day international conference
on combating trafficking in persons. In April, June,
and July 2008, the government provided services and
support valued at more than $60,000 that enabled IOM
to train 315 civil society volunteers, journalists, foreign
diplomats, and government officials in the LMRA and
Ministries of Interior, Social Development, Culture and
Information Affairs, Foreign Affairs, Labor, and Justice.
In July, the government requested and supported a
training and awareness program for its anti-trafficking
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http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2009/index.htm