Trafficking in humans: ‘no state faultless’

NO COUNTRY has a clean record in human trafficking and Qatar is no exception, speakers at a symposium said yesterday.
The symposium was organised by the National Office of Combating Trafficking in Humans (NOCTH).
Legal experts explained that the traditional ways of human trafficking had changed “into many forms that are difficult to recognise, unless those responsible for combating such crimes are appropriately trained.”
Dean of Faculty of Law at Qatar University Hassan el-Sayed said that the Qatari Constitution or criminal law did not include a clear regulation for fighting human trafficking, but “each rule matched the international agreement in this regard”.
“Qatar laws do not include a clear regulation for combating human trafficking as in Sudan’s constitution, which is considered as the source of traditional slavery, since we have mostly surpassed this level of fighting the crime,” he said.
El-Sayed said the Qatari Constitution had articles dealing with fighting corruption and exploitation.
He pointed out that the Qatari criminal law included acts dealing with crimes like use or threats of using force, murder or torture, and any act or attempt of buying and selling humans or their organs without their consent.
El-Sayed said Qatar’s record was not clean, especially with some labourers not getting their salaries on time, although the law was very strict in this regard.
“This causes great rage among workers which could be harmful to national security,” he said.
Qatar was fighting human trafficking by giving everybody a chance to learn and train, fighting poverty, conducting media campaigns, training legal personnel, and through international co-operation, he added.
NOCTH co-ordinator Mariam Ibrahim al-Maliki said at the opening of the symposium that human trafficking had increased due to poverty and unemployment.
She noted that Qatar had signed and respected many international agreements in this regard.
One of the delegates called for the establishment of a law for housemaids in Qatar.
Another participant pointed out that husbands were not allowed to accompany married maids to Qatar. “The husband could work as a driver and protect his wife from sexual abuse and other crimes,” he said.
Mouna Ghanem from the Centre of Development spoke about maid abuse in the Middle East, particularly in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Morocco.
“The Sri Lankan embassy in Saudi Arabia had reported in 2004 that it received about 150 maids who fled their sponsors every month because of mistreatment,” she said.