RIYADH — Saudi Arabia has always been fighting the scourge of human trafficking and regards it as a heinous crime, President of the Human Rights Commission (HRC) Dr. Awwad Bin Saleh Al-Awwad, said here on Monday. His comments came during his meeting with Jennifer Townson, Britain's Migration and Modern Slavery envoy, Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said. During the meeting, they discussed aspects of joint cooperation between the two countries, especially with regard to human rights. Al-Awwad highlighted the Kingdom's efforts, under the leadership of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman and Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, deputy premier and minister of defense, in supporting human rights, and the pioneering Saudi steps toward achieving sustainable development that makes man the focus of development, in line with the Kingdom's Vision 2030. Al-Awwad cited several Kingdom regulations and measures ensuring a decent life for the citizens and expatriates, on an equal footing. Among these is the regulation for combating human trafficking crimes. In this regard, the Kingdom has laid down a national plan to fight the crime. Meanwhile, the labor law and its executive bylaws have specified the relations between the worker – whether citizen or expatriate – and his employer, such that they protect their rights and duties of each party. He pointed out that the Kingdom has worked on the subjects related to the preventive aspect, including preventive measures; protection and rehabilitation of victims of human trafficking and legal pursuit of criminals, launching of the national referral mechanism to combat trafficking as a national reference document that specifies the bases for dealing with cases of human trafficking, in addition to establishing national, regional and international cooperation to combat this crime. In another development, Al-Awwad met on Monday with a number of representatives of civil society institutions, who briefed him on the activities and work they carry out to serve their beneficiaries. Speaking to the representatives of civil society institutions, Al-Awwad stressed the importance of the role of these institutions in protecting and instilling human rights and contributing to spreading human rights culture. He asserted that they are an important partner in achieving sustainable development. Al-Awwad stressed that the HRC would work on deepening the partnership with all the civil society institutions in all the regions.
