Arab governments are failing on human trafficking

The poor record of Middle Eastern countries on trafficking stems from the primacy given to protecting regimes over individuals

guardian.co.uk, Brian Whitaker, Tuesday 28 June 2011

Hillary Clinton speaks at the Interagency Task Force on human trafficking.
The US global report for 2011 has been released. Photograph: Evan Vucci/AP

Efforts to combat human rights abuses are easily undermined by politics. Often – and with good reason – the US and other western countries are accused of highlighting abuses by their enemies while turning a blind eye to similar abuses by their friends.

One way of pushing political considerations into the background is to look at the problem comparatively, by considering where each country stands in relation to others. That is what the US state department has been doing for 11 years now, with its global reports on human trafficking.

The result, as seen in the latest report issued on Monday, is a robust critique, which places some of the staunchest US allies – Kuwait and Saudi Arabia – in the same rotten boat as long-time foes such as Cuba, North Korea and Iran.

"Trafficking in persons" covers various forms of exploitation including, in the words of the international Palermo protocol, "sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs".

The state department's report divides countries into three categories according to their performance. In the top tier are those that fully comply with minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking. In the second tier are those that do not fully comply but "are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance" and the bottom tier is for those that "neither satisfy the minimum standards nor demonstrate a significant effort to come into compliance".

The second tier also includes a watch list of countries "requiring special scrutiny". Countries in the bottom tier may be subjected to certain kinds of sanctions.

This year, two countries – Portugal and the Slovak Republic – have moved up into the top tier and 19 have been taken off the watch list. Nine others have been moved on to the watch list and 11 have slipped into the bottom tier.

The bottom tier has grown rapidly over the last three years, from 14 countries in 2008 to 23 today. Just over a third of these are Arab or Middle Eastern countries. Iran, Kuwait, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia and Sudan have been joined this year by Algeria, Lebanon, Libya and Yemen, and four others are on the watch list: Iraq, Qatar, Syria and Tunisia. No Middle Eastern country figures in the top tier.

A large part of the problem in the wealthier Arab countries is the extensive use of foreign labour – especially those employed in domestic service, construction and sanitation. Referring to Kuwait, the report says:

• "Although most of these migrants enter Kuwait voluntarily, upon arrival some are subjected to conditions of forced labour by their sponsors and labour agents, including nonpayment of wages, long working hours without rest, deprivation of food, threats, physical or sexual abuse, and restrictions on movement, such as the withholding of passports or confinement to the workplace."

It continues:

• "Kuwait's sponsorship law effectively dissuades workers from reporting abuse by their sponsors to government authorities; workers who abscond from their sponsors face criminal and financial penalties of up to six months' imprisonment, over $2,000 in fines and deportation for leaving without their employers' permission, even if they ran away due to abuse by the sponsor."

It's a similar picture in Saudi Arabia, where workers who complain to the police about abuse may find themselves returned to their employers or pressured into dropping charges.

"Some employers file false counter-claims against foreign workers for theft, witchcraft, and adultery in retaliation for workers' claims of abuse," the report says. "As a result, in many cases, the workers rather than the employers are punished, which discourages workers from reporting abuse."

Saudi Arabia is also accused of failing to take action to reduce the demand for prostitution or child sex tourism by Saudi nationals or even to acknowledge "that trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation was a problem affecting the kingdom".

Unlike torture, say, and arbitrary arrest, trafficking in persons is a human rights abuse perpetrated by societies rather than governments but it is one that governments should take steps to prevent. In some parts of the region – Yemen, for example – constant turmoil and the limited capabilities of government make prevention difficult. But Kuwait and Saudi Arabia have no such excuse: they lack the will to deal with the problem, or at least to give it any kind of priority.

That, in turn, stems from a wider problem that has plagued the region for decades: a philosophy of government that is more about ensuring the survival of the regime than serving the needs of the public or protecting the weaker elements in their societies.

The Arab spring has provided a sharp reminder that these regimes must do more for their own citizens, or risk the consequences, but the impoverished foreigners – who in many cases keep these countries running – are still treated as inferior beings whose rights count for little or nothing.

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