War on human trafficking vow
BAHRAIN’s labour and criminal court systems are to be developed to better deal with all forms of illegal trafficking, a top government official pledged yesterday.The passing of a new anti-trafficking legislation will be a major step forward in combating human trafficking in Bahrain, said Foreign Ministry assistant under-secretary Dr Shaikh Abdul Aziz bin Mubarak Al Khalifa, who is also the Inter-Ministerial Task Force on Trafficking chairman.
“Bahrain is adamant that abuses are rectified and abusers brought to justice in accordance with existing laws,” he said in an opening session of a training programme entitled Combating Labour Trafficking in Bahrain.
War on human trafficking vow
BAHRAIN’s labour and criminal court systems are to be developed to better deal with all forms of illegal trafficking, a top government official pledged yesterday.The passing of a new anti-trafficking legislation will be a major step forward in combating human trafficking in Bahrain, said Foreign Ministry assistant under-secretary Dr Shaikh Abdul Aziz bin Mubarak Al Khalifa, who is also the Inter-Ministerial Task Force on Trafficking chairman.
“Bahrain is adamant that abuses are rectified and abusers brought to justice in accordance with existing laws,” he said in an opening session of a training programme entitled Combating Labour Trafficking in Bahrain.
The meeting at the InterContinental Regency Bahrain hotel was organised by the US Embassy, under the patronage of Social Development Minister Dr Fatima Al Balooshi.
Also present were US Ambassador William Monroe, Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies’ Protection Project executive director Dr Mohammed Mattar and Dr Laura Lederer, senior advisor on trafficking in persons at the US Department of State Office of the Under-secretary for Democracy and Global Affairs.
Education Development Centre (EDC) workforce and development programmes director Elizabeth Markovic welcomed the gathering.
“We are adamant in our desire to change the law as necessary to make our country a better place for the most vulnerable of our expatriate guests,” said Dr Shaikh Abdul Aziz.
“I want to emphasise that this initiative has come from within Bahrain, as part of the firm desire of the leadership and government of the country to ensure that no person, whether Bahraini or otherwise, suffers injustice or abuse.”
Bahrain has come a long way in protecting the most vulnerable expatriates in its community, said Dr Shaikh Abdul Aziz.
“However, we have still further to travel in terms of achieving our goal,” he noted.
“We have moved from a situation where people objected to the very terminology of human trafficking and its apparent association with the buying and selling of human beings as form of property, to an understanding that the reality of trafficking is the denial of rights and the exploitation of vulnerability.”
The Inter-Ministerial Task Force has brought together representatives from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Justice, Interior, Labour, Social Development and Information as well as the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the Legal Affairs Directorate and the Capital Governorate.
Fifteen meetings were held by the Task Force, addressing various challenges, most notably:
l The challenge of understanding and explaining the terminology of “human trafficking” to government, employers and society.
The committee has sought to engage with the media and with society to raise awareness and shape attitudes by explaining the dreadful effects of trafficking so that an effective and community-based approach to tackling the problem can be developed.
The government has also produced guides in several languages to educate workers arriving in Bahrain of their rights, and the avenues available to protect them.
l The challenge of providing immediate temporary solutions to the most extreme and violent cases of trafficking, including the government-sponsored shelter for trafficking victims and a hotline for those who are or may be the victims of trafficking.
l The challenge of recording and documenting complaints, and helping those in need, including statistics produced by the Labour Ministry and the Public Prosecutor’s Office to better identify instances of trafficking in Bahrain.
In the longer term, Bahrain faces the challenge of putting in place the right legal and other procedures to address and deal with all forms of trafficking, to aid the victims and to bring the perpetrators to justice, said Dr Shaikh Abdul Aziz. “We are looking in particular at ways in which the labour and criminal court systems can better meet these ends,” he revealed.
“Most immediately, the challenge is to draft and enact new anti-trafficking legislation and I am pleased that the Inter-Ministerial Task Force has now completed the draft, which we hope will be passed to parliament during its current session.”
The task force, said Dr Shaikh Abdul Aziz, has worked to engage with international organisations involved in combating trafficking.
Monthly meetings are held with foreign embassies to discuss the issue.
“We have encouraged and arranged for government ministries to meet officials from the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the UN to discuss trafficking in a transparent manner,” he added.
“A number of successful meetings have taken place, including between the IOM and ministers.
“Meanwhile, the Justice Ministry has organised a seminar in co-ordination with the IOM on combating trafficking, which brought together representatives of the government with IOM experts and lecturers.”
Dr Shaikh Abdul Aziz welcomed the progress that the Task Force, and Bahrain as a whole, has made over the past few years in dealing with the problem of trafficking.
“The passing of the new anti-trafficking legislation will be a major step forward in this process, but we recognise that in the end it is for us, as a government, as a society and as individuals, to combat this evil.”