Tricked and Trapped: Human Trafficking in the Middle East, ‎pdf 4.1 MB

Concerted efforts have been made to document the types of human
trafficking that take place in the Middle East. These include UN and nongovernmental
organization (NGO) reports, articles in scholarly journals and
a number of studies issued by governments in the region, such as the reports
of the National Committee to Combat Human Trafficking in the UAE. The
ILO’s most recent estimate puts the number of victims of forced labour in
the Middle East at 600,000, 36 and its Committee of Experts has highlighted
in particular the vulnerable situation of domestic workers and children, who
work in prostitution, camel racing and forced begging. The reports of the
UN Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons, based on official missions
to the region, have identified as vulnerable to trafficking women and girls in
the sex industry and in domestic work; men and boys in the construction
industry and in farm work; and children in the camel race industry. 37 Also,
the US Government’s annual Trafficking in Persons Report has documented
both labour and sexual exploitation globally since 2001. Over the years, these
reports have become more detailed, and have covered all the Arab countries,
with a particular focus on trafficking for labour exploitation.
The ILO Committee of Experts has drawn attention to the commitments
that governments have made at the UN Human Rights Council .38 During
the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) sessions of the Human Rights Council,
governments can recount the actions they have taken to improve human
rights in their countries and fulfil their human rights obligations. All the
countries in the Middle East have appeared before the Council since 2006,
and have addressed the issue of human trafficking, particularly underscoring
the foreign worker has the right – without requiring the consent of the employer – to
move from one employer to another without breaching the rights of the employer as per
the articles of the law or the clauses of the employment contract between the two sides.”
Law No. 15 of 2011 amending para. (a) of art. 25 of Law No. 19, 2006, regulating
the labour market.
36
According to the ILO, the region with the highest prevalence of forced labour (i.e.
the highest number of victims per thousand inhabitants) is Central and South Eastern
Europe (non-EU) and the Commonwealth of Independent States (4.2 per 1,000
inhabitants), followed by Africa (4 per 1,000 inhabitants), Middle East (3.4 per 1,000
inhabitants), Asia and the Pacific (3.3 per 1,000 inhabitants), Latin America and
the Caribbean (3.1 per 1,000 inhabitants) and developed economies and the European
Union (1.5 per 1,000 inhabitants). Statistics on prevalence are highly significant since
they indicate the level of risk that people face in different regions. Fore more information,
see ILO: Global estimate of forced labour, p. 15.
37
S. Huda, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights aspects of the victims
of trafficking in persons, especially women and children: Mission to Bahrain, Oman and
Qatar, A/HRC/4/23/Add. 2 (New York, UN Human Rights Council, 25 Apr. 2007),
pp. 21–23; S. Huda, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights aspects of the
victims of trafficking in persons, especially women and children: Mission to Lebanon, E/
CN.4/2006/62/Add. 3 (New York, UN Human Rights Council, 20 Feb. 2006), p. 8.
38
ILO: Observation (CEACR), Kuwait, Forced Labour Convention (No. 29), adopted
2011, published International Labour Conference, 101st Session, Geneva, 2012.
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