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Child trafficking from the perspective of Islamic law: a case study of Saudi Arabia

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Abstract

This thesis examines the legal responses to child trafficking in Saudi Arabia (SA). It primarily examines whether SA has created a legal response that accounts for all trafficked children regardless of the type of exploitation they experience and whether the enforcement of the law accurately reflects the law. SA?s response has been influenced by, and created alongside, Islamic, international and regional responses. Therefore, the thesis examines SA?s legal approach to child trafficking in light of the responses adopted on all three levels.

Given that SA is an Islamic State and that its legal system is based on Islamic law, the thesis examines the Islamic law framework in relation to child trafficking in order to determine whether there is support for the prevention and eradication of this crime according to international standards. Findings reveal that Islamic law opposes and prohibits trafficking in children and its related acts of exploitation. Therefore, it is clear that rules of international law and the principles of Islamic law are complementary to one another in effectively and comprehensively combating child trafficking. In relation to the protection aspect of child victims of trafficking, it is suggested that Islamic law can serve as an important vehicle for the enforcement of international human rights law in the Muslim world. Thus, recommendations are advanced to that effect.

An examination of the Islamic, international and regional approaches to the trafficking of children, in light of the legal responses and enforcement practices of SA, reveals that, although SA has developed anti-trafficking legislation, it fails to enforce the law in practice. The main conclusion reached is that there is a need for SA to improve its laws and enforcement practices against child trafficking in order to align itself to accepted standards at all three levels. The thesis also examines the legal responses, laws and practices of another Islamic jurisdiction, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), towards the trafficking of children. This is done in order to distil lessons, if any, for SA, from the UAE. The UAE was chosen as a case study for the comparative analysis because of the legal, cultural and religious similarities between SA and the UAE. The analysis of the UAE response to combat child trafficking presents a more progressive and successful approach in comparison with SA. The findings reveal that there are lessons which SA can learn from the UAE.

Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024

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