Qatar to stamp out human trafficking
Qatar has said it will step up the fight against human trafficking and is on the verge of introducing new measures.
The Qatar News Agency (QNA) quoted a Foreign Ministry official as saying that the country would set up a “national committee” to oversee a new centre to assist and rehabilitate victims of human trafficking.
Qatar will also introduce hotlines in Arabic, English and Urdu to receive information and assist victims.
An Interior Ministry official said the measures would strengthen a law issued in May which bans the use of children in camel racing.
“This will help bolster our existing law against child camel jockeys and will help protect all children that could be or are being trafficked,” he said.
Doha says its laws prohibit such rights violations.
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But a US report in June criticised Qatar along with three other Gulf Arab states as the worst offenders in allowing human trafficking.
Washington says boys are trafficked to be used as camel jockeys in Qatar, while male and female domestic workers can fall victim to “involuntary servitude” through excessive work hours and the withholding of wages and passports.
Expatriates, mostly workers from Asian and other Arab countries, make up more than 75% of Qatar‘s population of 800,000.