KUWAIT CITY, Jan 11: Regional representative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries Judge Dr Hatem Ali confirmed that Kuwait is keen on confronting human trafficking crimes, reports Al-Anba daily. Ali stressed in an interview with the daily that Kuwait and other GCC countries are being targeted by organized criminal gangs due to their economic prosperity and political stability. He pointed out that Kuwait signed the agreement, issued a law in 2013 to combat human trafficking crimes and established a national committee to coordinate with the relevant authorities to combat the crime and a system for caring for victims, which is the shelter and a specialized administration in the Ministry of Interior and Public Prosecution, where the Capital Prosecution was tasked to investigate crimes of human trafficking and smuggling immigrants.

He explained the unrest that the world is currently witnessing, particularly in Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan and other African countries, contributes to the growth of organized crime and the falling of people into the clutches of these crimes like trafficking in drugs, weapons or human beings. He pointed out that organized gangs are desperate to make illegal profits from countries by using technology or electronic attacks on Gulf countries, including Kuwait.

On Kuwait’s efforts in the field of combating human trafficking, he affirmed: We reviewed it with all credibility and honesty. According to our objective standards as a general secretariat, Kuwait first joined and ratified the convention, began implementing it, issued a law in 2013 to combat human trafficking crimes, and then established a national coordination committee to fight against these crimes.” He went on to say that the Public Prosecution of Kuwait has allocated a specialized prosecution -- the Capital Prosecution -- to deal with human trafficking cases, while a national referral system has been established for the cooperation of first responders to identify and deal with cases suspected of human trafficking by referring them judicially or by providing the necessary care and protection and dealing with labor violations if they constitute a human trafficking crime.