Bahrain has one of the lowest criminality scores in the world

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Reaffirming its position as the “land of the peaceful living”, the latest report by the Global Organised Crime Index shows that Bahrain has one of the lowest criminality scores in the world.

At 4.83, Bahrain has one of the lowest criminality scores in the region when compared to other GCC countries except for Oman (4.14).

Saudi Arabia (6.01) has the highest score among GCC nations followed by the UAE (5.75), Qatar (5.21) and Kuwait (5.14).

The criminality scores across all GCC countries were quite low in comparison with the world/ continent averages.

With a score of 7.85, the Democratic Republic of Congo received the highest criminality score.

The Kingdom also has a lower rank in criminal marks, non-renewable resource crimes, drug trade, human trafficking and environmental crime indices. “Bahrain’s strong economy relies heavily on foreign labour.

In its efforts to impose a clampdown on possible crimes, the government has implemented many measures to end human trafficking, forced labour, sexual abuse and non-payment of wages,” the report says.

Attributing the Kingdom’s low criminality score to its high success in combating human trafficking, the report called for increased caution to maintain the success record.

“The Kingdom is well-known for hosting major events like the Formula One.

 And there are high chances for human smugglers to use these big events to bring people into the country illegally.

The authorities have to be on continuous alert to tackle these violators,” the report points out.

The US State Department’s 2020 report on Trafficking in Persons (TIP) placed Bahrain in the Tier 1 status, – the only GCC nation on it – recognised as being fully compliant with the Trafficking Victims Protection Act’s minimum standards for the elimination of human trafficking.

The report praised the Kingdom’s increased trafficking investigations, prosecutions and support to victims.

It also documented that the Interior Ministry had probed 41 potential trafficking cases (in which 60 arrests were made) from April 2019 and April 2020, of which 29 were for sex trafficking and 12 were forced labour.

In the period under TIP review, the Kingdom convicted 53 people for alleged sex trafficking crimes, seven related to alleged forced labour, up from nine and zero, respectively in the year before.

According to the report, the Kingdom’s Interior Ministry has been investing best efforts to tackle drug-related crimes.

The government regularly intercepts illegal drugs entering the country and many are prosecuted, convicted and sentenced for drug-related crimes.

Preventing terror elements from operating within the country has been one of the security initiatives intensely implemented by the Kingdom.

In 2019 May, the Bahraini Government ratified amendments to Bahrain’s 2006 Anti-Terror Law that allows for penalties of up to five years in prison for encouraging or possessing materials that support “terrorist activities.”

The Kingdom’s new traffic safety strategy has reduced traffic crimes and offences.

Accident-related deaths and injuries decreased by 35 per cent from 2020 levels.