MUSCAT: The two-day seminar on Human Trafficking: Concept and Practice, organised by Oman Human Rights Commission (OHRC) in cooperation with the National Committee for Combating Human Trafficking (NCCHT), concluded on Tuesday.
The seminar recommended establishing a dedicated fund to boost support to the victims of human trafficking, amending human trafficking related laws and legislations, and separating the human trafficking victims from the other groups at the Al Wifaq Care Centre of the Ministry of Social Development.
The seminar also proposed to move on with the efforts aimed at establishing and complementing dedicated units for human trafficking at the law-enforcing bodies, fostering the cultural programmes that aim at spreading awareness about the issue of human trafficking and setting up a work team of relevant authorities to follow up the implementation of the seminar’s recommendations.
Commenting to Oman Arabic, sister publication of the Observer, Sayyid Ammar bin Abdullah al Busaidy, First Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in-charge of the human trafficking file, said: “The NCCHT is always ready to cooperate with all the concerned authorities by holding conferences and seminars to increase awareness about the issue of human trafficking. We also welcome everyone who wishes to deliver a message on the issue of human trafficking by contacting the office of the secretary-general of the ministry of interior.”
“It should be known that these efforts and seminars come with-in the context of the National Action Plan (2018-2022) for Combating Human Trafficking. This year, the rapid response team (RRT) was formed under the public prosecution, ministry of interior, ministry of social development, Royal Oman Po-lice, and the ministry of manpower. Suspected human trafficking cases can be reported on the hotline 80077444,” Al Busaidy concluded.
Captain Mohammed bin Said al Kalbani, presented a working pa-per in which he explained the role of the Directorate-General of Inquiries and Criminal Investigation at Royal Oman Police (ROP) in the handling of human trafficking cases.
ROP has imposed regulations on tourist visas for citizens of certain Asian countries to curb sex trade. Accordingly, tourist visas are issued to female citizens of those countries provided that they have prior hotel booking, return air ticket and enough cash to pay for the expenses during their stay. Another working paper dealt with the types of human trafficking which include sexual exploitation, forced labour, slavery, illegal sale and purchase of human organs for transplantation.
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