A regional anti-human trafficking conference titled ‘Consultation to promote sub-regional collaboration on combating trafficking in persons’, held in Malé has concluded.
The conference – inaugurated by the Minister for Economic Development Mohamed Saeed – was organised by the Ministry of Youth and Sports, in collaboration Sri Lanka’s Solidarity Center, reports Sun Online.
The conference was attended by representatives from Bangladesh, Nepal, India, Sri Lanka, Qatar, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates.
Dr Ahmed Al Hashemi, Director of Middle East Centre for Training and Development is reported to have provided a presentation detailing how the UAE has employed a number of anti-trafficking mechanisms including electronic salary transfers and the establishment of specialist anti-trafficking committees within government departments.
The Maldives passed its first anti-trafficking legislation in December, defining the practice as a crime for the first time. The country had previously been placed on the US State Department’s Tier 2 Watch List for human trafficking for four years in a row, with suggestions that it could move to the third tier failing steps to address the issue.
