This year’s theme, “Trapped Behind the Scam,” seeks to highlight the plight of those deceived into working, often under the threat of violence or debt bondage, for scam operations involved in industrial-scale financial fraud.
Mohammed Al-Masri, secretary-general of the National Committee for Combating Trafficking in Persons at the Saudi Human Rights Commission, said: “Our priority in the current phase is to continue implementing the National Action Plan across its four pillars: prevention, protection and assistance, prosecution and cooperation and partnerships.”
The plan, for 2024–27, served as a unified implementation framework to strengthen the national system for combatting human trafficking crimes, he told Arab News.
The committee had made progress over the past 12 months through initiatives including capacity building, practical guidance materials, improved victim protection and efforts to address emerging forms of trafficking, he said.
It also strengthened national and international partnerships so as to benefit from international expertise and best practices. This included signing a memorandum of understanding with the Ibtissam Association for Combating Human Trafficking.
“The committee also launched the electronic platform for the national referral mechanism for victims of human trafficking, which connects relevant government entities to document trafficking cases and investigations at all stages,” Al-Masri said.
“In addition, the Human Rights Commission, in its capacity as chair of the committee, signed two phase III agreements with the International Organization for Migration and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
“This cooperation has been reflected in the implementation of several high-impact initiatives, most notably institutionalizing the training of trainers approach by qualifying a national team of 20 trainers.”
The committee developed specialized training content to address exploitation through electronic means and the exploitation of victims involved in begging, and prepared guidance manuals for judicial and enforcement entities to help standardize procedures and improve responses, he said.
Last year the Ministry of Interior announced the establishment of the General Department for Community Security and Combating Human Trafficking Crimes under Public Security.
The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development said that the Kingdom ranked second for anti-trafficking in a US Department of State report and highlighted its ratification of the Palermo Protocol in 2007 and the 2014 Protocol to the ILO Forced Labour Convention.