KUWAIT CITY, June 18: The International Organization for Migration (IOM) in coordination with the Ministry of Interior organized a training session on Monday at the UN Headquarters in Mishref to prepare a team of citizens to fight human trafficking.

The event was patronized by representative of the General Administration for Training Activities Brigadier Adel Al-Sa’adoun and other officials.

In an address, Al-Sa’adoun said the session aspires to rehabilitate national trainers to help eradicate Trafficking in People (TIP) which is considered a sensitive and global problem.

For his part, the head of Kuwait’s office of IOM Eman Areeqat described Kuwait as a country devoid of the problem of human trafficking, even as the trend is prevalent in many countries. All the same, some ‘weak brains’ here trade in residency permits to tarnish Kuwait’s image. Also, she stressed that some people can not exercise self-control and they abuse housemaids brought into the country by refusing to pay their salaries for many months. She noted such maids are maltreated and overworked, and “this behavior is a form of human trafficking because employers abuse their employees and force them to perform heavy chores”. For this reason, the Ministry of Interior organized the training session to form the first team of citizens to fight the phenomenon, she said. 

In the meantime, representative of the Administration for Training Activities in the Ministry of Interior Colonel Nasser Buresli commended the IOM for its efforts to train citizens on human rights activities.