Jordan has come ahead of its neighbours in regards to the fight against human trafficking, those were the words of Jordanian Justice Minister, Awad al-Mashaqbeh, during a meeting with the National Committee on Preventing Human Trafficking (NCPHT) on Tuesday, Petra news agency reported.

The minister and the committee discussed the Anti-Human Trafficking Law draft as a means to combat human trafficking as part of local and global efforts to combat the phenomenon.

According to the minister, the draft law is a crucial legislative document as it places great emphasis on victim protection and rehabilitation, insuring increased focus on their physical and psychological well-being.

The minister assured that the law will tighten sanctions against perpetrators of human trafficking by taking precautionary measures against them and providing protection for witnesses.

In the meeting that was attended by members of the committee represented by the general secretaries of several ministries and the Commissioner-General of the National Center for Human Rights (NCHR), the minister praised the committee members’ role in establishing a " Victim Fund".

The protocol to prevent, suppress and punish human trafficking was adopted as part of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime in the year 2000 and entered into force in Dec 2003. Jordan joined the convention on June 11, 2004, meaning that the country is obliged to implement the international treaty in its national courts.

In 2017, the Jordanian Ministry of Labour dealt with 88 human trafficking cases that were referred to the Anti-Human Trafficking Department in the Public Security Department (PSD), the Minister of Labour told the Jordan Times.

According to the “Trafficking in Persons Report” released by the US Department of State annually, Jordan is placed in Tier two. The ranking puts Jordan with countries whose governments do not fully comply with the minimum standards, but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards.

The report praised Jordan’s efforts to investigate, prosecute and convict traffickers as Jordan demonstrated increasing efforts compared to the previous reporting period in 2016.