General courts in the Kingdom have saved 50 children and women who were negatively affected by human trafficking issues out of 68 cases dealt with last year, local media said, quoting an official at the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR).

Human trafficking takes diverse forms, including coercive work where the victim is forced to carry out certain work without being paid as is sometimes the case with house maids and drivers, Secretary General of Standing Committee to Combat Human Trafficking at NSHR Badr Bajabir told an Arabic daily.

He said human trafficking can also take other forms such as bringing childre into the Kingdom illegally and pushing them to work as beggars in public places, including shopping malls and traffic signals as well as sexual exploitation of women and children.

The NSHR official admitted that a number of organized gangs were spotted to have engaged in trafficking children and forced them to beg for money.

The Standing Committee to Combat Human Trafficking at NSHR has created a unified center to receive calls in eight languages from those who are subject to exploitation by sponsors or those who are being exploited by gangs to beg at shopping malls or traffic signals, he said.

Sometimes the center receives calls from house maids or drivers who have not been paid salaries, which make their sponsors liable for coercive labor crimes, he said.

The committee has prepared brochures on human trafficking guidelines, which are sent to Saudi embassies and airports to be distributed to incoming work force, which are meant to acquaint them on the concepts and risks of human trafficking, he pointed out.

For his part, lawyer and legal adviser Rayyan Mufti said the courts have introduced penalties for those who are proven to have involved in exploiting others to get personal interests. The penalties could reach up to 15 years in prison, SR1 million in fine or the funds of the perpetrator seized, he said.