Don’t waste time discussing immoral traffic, MPs urged

Manama : Discussing immoral traffic in the parliament is a waste of time, said MP Khalid Al Shaer during the weekly session of the House of Representatives yesterday.

Immoral traffic isn’t a phenomenon in Bahrain alone, the lawmaker said while he rejected a request submitted by a group of MPs to hold discussion on efforts taken by the authorities to combat the phenomenon of immoral activities with emphasis on prostitution.

“It’s not a phenomenon as mentioned by the presenters of the request. It’s no more than personal misbehaviours that are dealt with by the law,” Al Shaer said. 

“The proposal to have the discussion on the matter is noble, but I don’t believe that Bahrain needs us to waste four to five hours of the parliament’s time to have such a discussion. We have the National Anti-human Trafficking Committee, Interior Ministry and the National Institution for Human Rights to deal with these simple matters. There are more important issues to citizens such as traffic congestions and rainwater flooding that require us to convene and have an open discussion about them.” Despite Al Shaer’s statements, majority of MPs agreed to hold the discussion next week.

DT News had reported earlier that a group of MPs, headed by Jamal Dawood submitted a request to hold an open discussion in the presence of government officials to stand on the official efforts to combat the phenomena. The MPs had stated that the spread of the prostitution in Bahrain is sad and there are many human trafficking rackets benefitting from flesh trade in hotels and apartments in the Capital and neighbouring areas, which is harming the reputation of the Kingdom.