Doha: Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi reiterated the GCC states’ commitment to continuing their joint efforts to combat human trafficking crimes, strengthening legal and regulatory frameworks, and intensifying regional and international cooperation to ensure the protection of victims and the prosecution of perpetrators.

According to Qatar News Agency, in a speech delivered today at the opening of the 6th session of the Government Forum to Combat Trafficking in Persons in the Middle East, Albudaiwi emphasized the GCC states’ firm belief that cooperation and the exchange of expertise is the way to address this cross-border crime, stressing the need for joint action to create a future free of exploitation and trafficking.

Albudaiwi highlighted that the GCC countries have worked to formulate a convergent Gulf vision to combat the crime of human trafficking, based on its economic and geographical specificity and the challenges it faces in light of the development of the tools and methods of this crime, especially those related to the use of modern technology and transnational organized crime networks.

He reviewed the most prominent collective efforts and achievements made by the GCC countries in the field of combating human trafficking, including the adoption by the Supreme Council of the GCC in its 27th session in 2006 of the Abu Dhabi Document on the Unified Law to Prevent Human Trafficking in the GCC, which aims to prevent and end the abuse of human beings in any form.