(MENAFN- Jordan News Agency) Amman 4 February (Petra)--United Nations human rights expert Maria Grazia Giammarinaro today welcomed Jordan's strong commitment to fight trafficking in persons but urged the Government to further strengthen its legal framework and adopt prevention measures related to regular channels for migration and employment and protection of workers' rights.
"A solid legal framework is in place. The challenge is now to fast track the revision of the legislation for a clearer definition and effective prevention and protection of the human rights of trafficked persons - after five years of implementation- and issue a new national strategy against trafficking" said the UN Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons especially women and children at the end of her first visit to the country.
As a prevention measure Ms. Giammarinaro called on the Government to increase opportunities for regular employment ensure full implementation of recent regulations on domestic work with a view to better protecting domestic workers and to increase safe migration options in order to eliminate the vulnerabilities of migrants to trafficking.
The expert also encouraged the government to continue efforts to address trafficking for labour exploitation including domestic servitude mostly affecting young women from South East Asia and East Africa and exploitation of Syrian refugees including a large number of children in agriculture and other sectors such as construction and garments.
"Stronger action is needed to prevent and counteract trafficking for sexual exploitation and internal trafficking" she said. "The refugee and asylum seeking population is particularly affected by early marriages of girls with foreigners resulting in servile and exploitative situations including forced prostitution." Acknowledging the enormous challenges related to the mass influx of Syrian refugees the expert called on the Government to continue implementing its generous policy towards refugees and urged the international community including the European Union to take action and effectively support Jordan's efforts.
Ms. Giammarinaro encouraged the government to keep building upon the progress made in addressing trafficking in persons by broadening its focus on the preventing of trafficking and exploitation of refugees including by increasing the opportunity to work regularly in the country.
She further called for accurate identification of cases of trafficking in persons and risk factors leading to trafficking especially among refugees and asylum seekers living outside the camps with a specific attention to individuals in situation of vulnerability such as women head of households and unaccompanied or separated children.
During her eight-day fact finding visit in Amman Ms. Giammarinaro met with representatives of various government agencies the judiciary the National Center for Human Rights as well as representatives of UN agencies international organizations civil society and victims of trafficking.
The expert also visited the Al Azraq refugee camp for Syrians the Juwaidah correctional and rehabilitation center and 2 shelters for victims of trafficking one run by the Ministry of Social Development and the other by Jordanian Women's Union.
4/2/2016 - 03:58:04 PM " />
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.