Chairperson of the NIHR is participating in an Online Seminar on the Impact of Coronavirus on Trafficking in Persons
Ms. Maria Khoury, Chairperson of the National Institution for Human Rights (NIHR), participated in an online seminar organized by the OHCHR Regional Office for the Middle East and North Africa on the effect of Coronavirus (Covid-19) on trafficking in persons. A number of chairpersons and members of the national human rights institutions around the world participated in the seminar.
The seminar discussed the effect of the current pandemic on trafficking in persons and how to treat the effect of the pandemic on victims of trafficking by the State members and other stakeholders, in addition to the basic requirements of the measures of combating trafficking in persons that are based on human rights.
During her intervention, Ms. Khoury pointed out that migrant and expatriate workers are one of the most vulnerable groups to the crime of trafficking in persons, and that the Kingdom of Bahrain is addressing this phenomenon in full through the concerned authorities (Labor Market Regulatory Authority and the Ministry of Interior) to develop appropriate solutions and mechanisms to combat all aspects of trafficking in persons.
Ms. Khoury also noted the precautionary measures taken by the Kingdom of Bahrain to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) among expatriate workers and to prevent them from becoming victims of such crime, in order to preserve the right of everyone to health while observing human rights according to international standards in light of the Coronavirus pandemic, noting at the same time that the Kingdom of Bahrain has achieved for the second year in a row the first category in the report of the US State Department on Combating Trafficking in Persons.
