The Kingdom has made great progress in light of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 in the field of combating human trafficking crimes and raising awareness of its dangers, based on the importance of preserving human dignity and protecting human rights from any violations, through the formulation of many legislations and judicial procedures, in accordance with the best international practices to support efforts to combat human trafficking crimes, which are considered transnational crimes.

Every year on July 30, the world celebrates the World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, which this year is themed “Leave No Child Behind.”.

The Kingdom’s government, led by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz, and his Crown Prince, Prime Minister Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has devoted efforts to combating human trafficking crimes, and has taken many local, regional and international measures to achieve this in order to preserve human dignity and promote human rights guaranteed by agreements.

In this context, the Kingdom has issued a package of legislative procedures and measures, starting with the Anti-Human Trafficking Crimes System, and the formation of the Anti-Human Trafficking Crimes Committee at the Human Rights Commission, represented by the Ministries of Interior, Foreign Affairs, Justice, Human Resources and Social Development, Media, Education, Health, the Public Prosecution, and the Human Rights Commission, in accordance with continuous national action plans to combat human trafficking crimes in the Kingdom.

To enhance its role in efforts to combat trafficking crimes, the Kingdom has joined a number of instruments and agreements, including the Arab Protocol to Prevent and Combat Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, the Arab Charter on Human Rights, the Arab Convention on Combating Transnational Organized Crime 2010, the Comprehensive Arab Strategy to Combat Trafficking in Persons, the Arab Guiding Law to Confront Trafficking in Persons Crimes, and the Abu Dhabi Document for the Unified Guiding System (Law) to Combat Trafficking in Persons for the Gulf Cooperation Council States, in addition to the Declaration of Human Rights of the Gulf Cooperation Council States. At the international level, the Kingdom joined the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime 2000, and the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime 2000, which aims to prevent and combat trafficking in persons, with special attention to women and children, and the United Nations Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons 2010, which is based on four main pillars: prevention, protection, prosecution and partnership, and the Doha Declaration supplementing the 13th United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice 2015, which calls for the implementation of a victim-centered approach.

It aims to prevent and combat all forms of human trafficking for the purposes of exploitation, and the International Labour Organization’s Declaration of Fundamental Rights at Work, the ILO Conventions, and other relevant organizations, in accordance with the Kingdom’s commitments, in addition to the 2014 Protocol supplementing the Forced Labour Convention of 1930.

A qualitative leap and communication pathways

The Kingdom adopted the National Referral Mechanism for Victims of Trafficking in Persons, which represented a qualitative leap in this field, as it worked to build communication channels between the concerned authorities in combating human trafficking crimes through many activities and events that communicated with various components of society to actively search for victims of these crimes, apprehend their perpetrators, and quickly bring them to trial, and provide health, psychological, social and shelter care for the victims.

In the fight against it, the role of government agencies’ programs also stands out, such as the Contractual Relationship Improvement Initiative, the Wage Protection Program, the Contract Documentation Program, the activation of the electronic amicable settlement service, the Musaned platform, the independent prosecution concerned with human trafficking crimes, the judicial departments specializing in trafficking crimes, and the electronic advertising regulations for recruitment activities and the provision of labor services.

Advanced ranking in the anti-corruption index

The Kingdom achieved an advanced ranking in the Trafficking in Persons Index, as the Kingdom's ranking in the Trafficking in Persons Index in the US State Department reports rose from Tier 3, which represents the lowest level, to Tier 2 Watch List in 2020, then to Tier 2 in 2021, and maintained its ranking during the years 2022 and 2023. This progress was well received by international organizations such as the United Nations, the European Union, the European Union's Committee on Foreign Affairs, and the Arab Parliament.