KUWAIT: Kuwait’s assistant foreign minister for development affairs Nasser Al-Sabeeh speaks during the seminar yesterday. — KUNA

KUWAIT: Kuwait maintains a close rapport with international organizations involved in the fight against human trafficking, a Kuwaiti diplomat said yesterday. Kuwait's assistant foreign minister of development affairs Nasser Al-Sabeeh was addressing a seminar on the country's efforts to combat human trafficking, where he spoke of the foreign ministry's plan to bring the country's well-chronicled contributions to humanitarian causes into the limelight.

He recalled that Kuwait had actively participated in the 72nd session of the UN General Assembly in September, where a UN plan to rid the world of human trafficking was promulgated, underlining the gravity of the scourge. The Kuwaiti envoy explained how human trafficking has morphed into a global dilemma with destructive effects on the social and economic fronts, citing effective legislations Kuwait has passed in efforts to crack down on this nefarious practice.

In a related note, Sabeeh said that he was ecstatic that Kuwait has been granted "observer status" at the International Organization for Migration, which is a testament to the country's diligent efforts to eradicate social ills. Meanwhile, Amy Mahoney, the head of the IOM's counter-trafficking and protection unit in New York, heaped praise on Kuwait for its commitment to crush human trafficking. - KUNA