A series of programmes focusing on providing support for migrant workers in Bahrain will be held in the coming week.It will kick off tomorrow with a two-day workshop on fair recruitment followed by the opening on Sunday of a national centre to tackle human trafficking, which will provide temporary shelter for victims.

The initiative, spearheaded by the Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA), will also include seminars on combating human trafficking that will be conducted by international organisations.

Details of the scheme were announced yesterday by LMRA chief executive Ausamah Al Absi during a Press conference held at the authority’s headquarters in Sanabis, where the second edition of the Bahrain Awareness Award was launched as part of the initiative.

The award will highlight the plight of expatriate workers in Bahrain and will be held under the patronage of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Premier.

It is open to citizens and residents of the GCC, who are being urged to produce short films and images portraying the life of migrants under the theme Fair Treatment.

The social media based contest, which is being launched in partnership with Zain Bahrain, will have two categories – short videos and advertisement posters – with prizes totalling $50,000.

“The Bahrain Awareness Award, launched last year, was a unique initiative that targeted the youth and aimed to promote and engage the rest of society in an effort to raise awareness with regards to the rights of the expatriate community,” Mr Al Absi told the GDN.

“According to our analysis, the measurable reach was 750,000 for videos that featured topics related to the theme Paying on Time and this doesn’t count the other non-measurable reach, which could double that number.

“The viewership spread to neighbouring countries like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, while requests for participation reached us even from North African countries.

“The initiative created enough momentum for us to feel confident enough to go on to the second edition, with the contest open to citizens and residents in the GCC.

“As part of our endeavour to expand geographically, we chose to partner with Zain not only because of their formidable CSR programme but also because of their geographic reach within the GCC.”

Participants aged between 16 and 26 can upload their entries to www.bahrainawards.com starting from December until mid-March.

The entries will be short listed by a panel of experts after which the
participants will be given a specific period to promote their work on social media.

The overall winners and runners-up will be selected through public voting.

First prize in each category is $10,000, while the second prize is $7,500 and the third prize is $5,000.

One award of $5,000 will also be given for one entry for artistic excellence.

Apart from the main awards, 10 voters will also have the opportunity to win $250 each.

They can vote for their choice of entries on the website after the short list is announced.

Meanwhile, tomorrow’s workshop on fair recruitment will be held at the Diplomat Radisson Blu Hotel, Residence and Spa by experts from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

While a two-day workshop on mechanisms to identity trafficking victims will be held on Sunday by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) on the sidelines of the opening of the shelter.

Another workshop to train non-medical responders to victims of human trafficking will be held on December 1 and December 2.

Later that week, a similar forum to train medical responders will be held by the International Organisation of Migration (IOM).