During the first week of August, Oman's labour ministry announced - Opens in new tab the deportation of 249 undocumented migrants. In the same week, another 198 undocumented migrants were arrested "for violating Omani labour laws," 143 of them working in businesses, 19 in farming and 36 as domestic workers. 114 of those arrested have escaped their jobs, 44 lost their jobs and 34 transferred to other jobs. The governorate of Muscat had the highest number of arrests with 81 cases.
As for trafficking, the Omani police said - Opens in new tab 158 migrants were arrested in the month of July mostly in the governorates of Muscat and Musandam by the strait of Hormuz. The police said the migrants came from different South and East Asian countries to work in Oman and other Gulf countries. Earlier in July, 378 trafficked migrants were deported. In 2012, 3400 trafficked migrants were arrested in Oman and deported. The UN's International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates - Opens in new tab that 600,000 migrants are victims of trafficking in the Gulf region.