Aqeel: Al Houthi militia has recruited 30,000 children since the beginning of the war in Yemen
Sherif Abdel Hamid: Turkey ranks first in Europe in human trafficking crimes
The world commemorates on July 30 of each year the International Day for Combating Human Trafficking, and on this occasion the Maat Foundation for Peace, Development and Human Rights issued a report entitled “Shameful Crime .. The Rise of Human Trafficking in the Middle East” monitors the increase of this phenomenon in the region, and the report indicated that recent years The indicators of the phenomenon of human trafficking have escalated, whether committed by governments with the complicity of government officials in countries as a result of corruption in the state’s administrative apparatus, or a lack of laws and efforts, which contributed to the increase in the number of victims of human trafficking in the Middle East region, or through human trafficking networks. Human trafficking is also among peoples living in or fleeing conflict situations.
The report focused on the escalation of human trafficking and the exploitation of children and women by armed militias supported by the Iranian government in conflict areas in the Middle East, especially the Houthi militia, as well as violations of the rights of migrant workers in Qatar who find themselves in conditions similar to slavery and slavery, and face persecution and difficult working conditions, in addition to The increase in human trafficking networks inside Turkey and the violations against Syrian refugee women.
Ayman Aqil, head of the Maat Foundation, said that human trafficking is a serious crime and a flagrant violation of human rights, affecting thousands of men, women and children every year. This phenomenon is increasing and suffers from every region of the world, where trafficking networks exploit the poor and vulnerable groups in order to achieve Profits, more than 70% of victims of trafficking were discovered women and girls, and 291 TP1T of men and children, and among these victims, the proportion of those who were trafficked for sexual exploitation was 45 %, and forced labor 38%.
Aqeel emphasized that the victims of trafficking for various purposes, including child recruitment and other forms of exploitation and abuse, as does the Iranian-backed Houthi militia in Yemen, which recruited nearly 30,000 children during the period of the conflict in Yemen, as well as migrant workers in Qatar who find themselves in Conditions similar to slavery and slavery, and the human rights expert explained that the global index of slavery in 2018 showed that about 4 thousand people (or 1.50 per thousand people of the population of Qatar) live in modern slavery, indicating that 37.72 per 100 people are subjected to slavery, as Qatar came in Top of the list of countries with least support for the government's response to reducing slavery. Also, many of those who fall prey to traffickers are immigrants, including refugees and asylum seekers, and Aqeel referred to the human rights violations that happen to Syrian refugees in Turkey.
Aqeel said that combating this phenomenon requires the international community to unite all efforts, and to develop more legal documents that directly and explicitly criminalize human trafficking operations, such as the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, and Aqeel called on the United Nations Human Rights Council to establish an independent commission To discuss issues of human trafficking as it is a complex account that contains a group of different human rights violations.
For his part, Sherif Abdel Hamid, Director of the Research and Studies Unit at the Maat Foundation, said that despite the existence of many international agreements and national laws, which aim to reduce this phenomenon, it is considered a very fragile legal framework and has many loopholes that allow the increase in the phenomenon of human trafficking. Abdul Hamid stated that there are no clear legal texts to impose sanctions on countries that assist in or permit human trafficking operations, and articles on child recruitment and exploitation by non-state actors have not been discussed, such as what the Houthi militia in Yemen does in terms of recruiting children and involving them in combat operations. .
The Director of the Research Unit added that Turkey ranks first in Europe in human trafficking crimes and is among the 15 worst countries in the world in this phenomenon, and stressed that Syrian refugees in Turkey face various types of human rights violations, including human trafficking. Where their material needs and their inability to live are exploited to sell their human organs, as well as forcing them to work in prostitution and sexual exploitation.
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