Reuters :Gulf states urged to fight human trafficking

Gulf states urged to fight human trafficking
Wed Nov 1, 2006 7:26 PM GMT

MANAMA (Reuters) – A lack of controls has exacerbated human trafficking into the Gulf, which has a large population of migrant workers, leaving many vulnerable to physical and sexual abuse, a U.N. trafficking expert said on Wednesday.

“Wherever there is an influx of migrant workers, if monitoring and control is less and the governments are less vigilant, there would always be a high percentage of human trafficking,” Sigma Huda, special rapporteur on trafficking for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, told reporters.

Gulf states urged to fight human trafficking
Wed Nov 1, 2006 7:26 PM GMT

MANAMA (Reuters) – A lack of controls has exacerbated human trafficking into the Gulf, which has a large population of migrant workers, leaving many vulnerable to physical and sexual abuse, a U.N. trafficking expert said on Wednesday.

“Wherever there is an influx of migrant workers, if monitoring and control is less and the governments are less vigilant, there would always be a high percentage of human trafficking,” Sigma Huda, special rapporteur on trafficking for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, told reporters.

“There is a lack of monitoring and vigilance (in the Gulf),” Huda said during a regional tour.

Gulf Arab states rely heavily on migrant labour, but few laws exist to protect their rights. Bahrain and Oman have in recent months enacted laws to recognise labour unions.

Huda said female domestic workers, roughly 50,000 of Bahrain’s 300,000 migrant workers, were especially disadvantaged. Some are lured into degrading jobs by recruiting agents with false promises of decent work conditions.

She said Bahrain recognised the problem, and intended to draft an anti-trafficking bill.

Huda described complaints of 14 to 16-hour working days, imprisonment in the home, the confiscation of passports, deprivation from contacting home countries, withholding pay, or being forced to steal food or eat scraps through lack of meals.

“Physical abuse is also a problem. Some victims told me of incidents of severe and traumatic abuse including mental and verbal abuse,” she said, adding that widely held racist and sexist attitudes contributed to the prevalence of trafficking.

Bahrain has set up a safe house for victims of abuse, and Huda urged it to create more, as well as thoroughly investigate cases of mistreatment.

Migrant singers or dancers are also vulnerable to abuse, with some ending up as prostitutes. Bahraini law, as in some other states, penalises prostitutes but not their clients.

Huda also visited a labour camp, where she said conditions were “appalling”, with up 24 people crammed into tiny rooms.

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