KUWAIT CITY, June 19: The annual US State Department Trafficking in Persons Report stated that Kuwait remains on Tier 2 Watch List this year; along with Algeria, Ethiopia, Mauritania, Djibouti and other countries, reports Al-Rai daily. According to the report, “the Kuwaiti government has not fully met the minimum standards for eliminating human trafficking despite the tremendous efforts exerted by Kuwait to combat this crime.

These efforts include assisting the most vulnerable migrant workers in government shelter, launching an online platform for domestic workers to file grievances rather than filing a complaint in person, and continuing to hold fraudulent recruitment agencies to civil liability. However, the government has not shown increased efforts overall compared to the previous reporting period, even taking into account the impact, if any, of the Covid- 19 pandemic on its ability to combat human trafficking.”

The report also pointed that “Kuwait has not taken any new steps to reform the visa-sponsorship system, which continues to make migrant workers more vulnerable to exploitation, specifically human trafficking. Therefore, it remained on the Tier 2 Watch List for the second year in a row.”