RIYADH (Asmaa Al-Muhammad, AlArabiya.net)
The Saudi Human Rights Commission expressed its concerns about human trafficking gangs who take advantage of people during the pilgrimage season.
Commission spokesman Dr. Zoheir Al-Harethi told AlArabiya.net that many people come to Saudi Arabia under the pretext of pilgrimage, but plan to stay and look for a job.
"They fall prey to gangs that use them for begging and prostitution," Harethi said, adding that children constitute a large proportion of the victims.
Harethi dismissed accusations that the kingdom is reluctant to combat this phenomenon, which was outlined in the 2007 U.S. State Department Trafficking in Persons Report.
"I won't deny the report mentions some real problems that should be dealt with and which we will take into consideration, but it contains lots of exaggerations and doesn't state any evidence. There's also too much emphasis on individual cases," Harethi said.
He also said the kingdom is sparing no effort to eliminate this trade, noting that the Ministry of Labor sets laws to regulate domestic labor, the Human Rights Commission is implementing a nationwide plan, and awareness campaigns have been launched by the Ministry of Information and Culture and the Ministry of Islamic Affairs.
Harethi admits that the country is facing a real challenge, especially regarding the selling of visas and the involvement of domestic laborers in prostitution.
Writer and Islamic researcher Dr. Youssef Abal-Khail told AlArabiya.net that such a phenomenon is not strange for a country that receives millions of people at the same time.
"The government should intensify its efforts to make sure pilgrims have gone back home and to alert people not to employ those who stay behind."
Abal-Khail believes that brothel owners are usually foreigners and, in most cases, from the same country as the girls they employ.
"If we are asked to ameliorate the conditions of working foreigners, foreign countries should also make sure to send people who respect the country they will work in."
Chairman of King Abdul-Aziz charity organization and human rights activist Al-Jawhara Al-Wabli told AlArabiya.net that the American report contained many true things.
"But we have to clarify that the Saudi government is fighting this and that women who work in prostitution are instantly deported," he said.
(Translated from Arabic by Sonia Farid). |
