‘14 human trafficking cases reported in first six months of 2016’

AMMAN — The legislation and procedures to combat trafficking in Jordan are “improving”, the government human rights coordinator, Basel Tarawneh, said on Sunday. 

“Jordan, be it the government or local organisations, is strongly committed to safeguarding the well-being of everyone residing on its soil and combating human trafficking,” Tarawneh told The Jordan Times on the occasion of the International Day for Combating Human Trafficking.

Jordan reported 14 cases of human trafficking in the first six months of this year, according to Tarawneh.

“One of the cases involved sexual exploitation in Balqa Governorate, while the remaining 13 were cases related to forced labour and withholding passports and documents of foreign workers by their employers,” the government human rights commissioner explained.

Tarawneh said several activities had been conducted and more would be held in the near future by various government agencies to raise awareness of the importance of combating human trafficking and safeguarding the dignity and rights of foreign workers in Jordan.

“We plan over the next few months to hold awareness campaigns via the media and other means in all governorates and in schools, universities, clubs and youth outlets about the basic principles of human rights and to identify human trafficking and how to fight it,” he explained.

These activities, the official said, are part of the comprehensive human rights plan that his office is responsible for. 

Other steps to be taken by the government to combat human trafficking include working to improve legislation, he added.

“There is a special committee at the Ministry of Justice that is revising laws related to domestic workers and introducing new laws that would comply with the international conventions that deal with human trafficking,” Tarawneh said.

He highlighted “the strong cooperation and collaboration between the government and civil society regarding this issue”. 

“That is something that you do not see in many countries,” Tarawneh said.

The Kingdom has ratified several international agreements related to human trafficking, such as the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially in Women and Children, which is part of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime.

In addition, Jordan has adopted a national strategy to combat human trafficking, which focuses on prevention, protection, law enforcement and international cooperation to eradicate the phenomenon.