2007 Trafficking in Persons Report - Center for Women Policy Studies

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the first government-funded and operated assistance
center for trafficking victims and passed a new
immigration law that facilitates issuance of residency
permits to trafficking victims. The Government of
Portugal provides funding and other in-kind forms
of support to foreign and domestic NGOs providing
victim services.
Prevention
The Government of Portugal continued to sponsor
anti-trafficking information campaigns and public
service announcements throughout the year. The
Government created a Web site with comprehensive
information about trafficking, its National Action
Plan, and links to NGOs providing victim assistance.
State-run channels broadcast programs on trafficking
to educate the general public, potential trafficking
victims, and immigrants. The Government sponsored
public service ads warning against trafficking
on television, radio, and newspapers. Through the
posting of liaison officers abroad, staffs of Portugal’s
overseas embassies and consulates are trained on
how to protect and assist trafficking victims.
QATAR (Tier 3)
Qatar is a destination for men and women trafficked
for the purposes of involuntary servitude
and, to a lesser extent, commercial sexual exploitation.
Men and women from India, Pakistan,
Bangladesh, Nepal, the Philippines, Indonesia,
Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, Sudan, Thailand,
Egypt, Syria, Jordan, and People’s Republic of China
(P.R.C.) travel to Qatar as laborers and domestic
servants, but some subsequently face conditions of
involuntary servitude. The most common forced
labor offense is forcing workers to accept worse
contract terms than those under which they were
recruited. Other forced labor conditions
in Qatar include instances of: bonded
labor; job switching; visa swapping; visa
selling; withholding of pay; charging
for benefits for which the employer is
responsible; restrictions on freedom of
movement, including the confiscation
of passports and travel documents and
the withholding of exit permits; arbitrary
detention; threats of legal action and
deportation; false charges; and physical, mental,
and sexual abuse. Workers are generally forced to
accept worse contract terms than those under which
they were recruited, and often suffer miserable
working and living conditions. Nepalese men are
reportedly recruited for work in Qatar as domestic
servants, but are then coerced or forced into labor
in Saudi Arabia as farm workers. Qatar is also a
destination for women from P.R.C., Indonesia,
the Philippines, Morocco, Sri Lanka, Lebanon,
India, Africa, and Eastern Europe trafficked for the
purpose of commercial sexual exploitation, but it is
unknown how many are trafficked.
The Government of Qatar does not fully comply
with the minimum standards for the elimination
of trafficking and is not making significant efforts
to do so. Qatar continues to detain and deport
victims rather than providing them with protection.
The government also failed to meaningfully
increase prosecutions for trafficking. Workers who
complained about working conditions or nonpayment
of wages were sometimes penalized and
prosecuted under false charges in retaliation. Qatar
should develop a credible law enforcement effort
against trafficking, and should take steps to ensure
that victims are not punished for acts related to
being trafficked.
Prosecution
The Government of Qatar made insufficient
progress in prosecuting trafficking offenses during
the reporting period. Qatar does not prohibit all
acts of trafficking, but it criminalizes slavery, forced
labor, and forced prostitution under sections 321,
322, and 297 of its Criminal Law, respectively. At
the same time, provisions of the Sponsorship Law
condone forced labor activities and slave-like conditions.
The government banned the use of child
camel jockeys in 2005. Qatar provided evidence of
only two convictions in a trafficking case involving
a domestic servant this year, despite reports that
this practice is common; those convicted received
five-year prison sentences. The government did not
initiate prosecutions for any other trafficking crimes
nor were any other persons convicted of trafficking
offenses. A government committee trained police,
prosecutors, judges, and legal educators on current
anti-trafficking laws. Qatar should significantly
improve its law enforcement response to trafficking
crimes by increasing criminal prosecutions of trafficking
offenses.
Protection
The Government of Qatar failed to adequately
protect victims of trafficking during the reporting
period. It does not systematically attempt
to identify trafficking victims among vulnerable
people, such as foreign workers awaiting deportation
and women arrested for prostitution, and as
a result, victims are often punished and deported
without being offered protection. The Government
of Qatar also commonly fines and detains trafficking
victims for unlawful acts committed as a direct
result of being trafficked, such as immigration