national committee represented by official government bodies and civil society organizations and, therefore, it is obliged, to develop a national strategy to combat trafficking in persons. The NIHR forwarded a proposed strategy to the Committee for guidance.15 5.8 The NIHR, convinced that the expatriate workers must have full rights and that this will not be achieved without providing them with more protection, has opened a branch at the Expat Protection and Assistance Centre, affiliated with the National Anti-Trafficking in Persons Committee. 5.9 The NIHR’s branch concerned with expatriate workers is the first of its kind in the Asia-Pacific region focusing on a high priority group and the fight against trafficking in persons and new slavery, as well as the protection of freedom of movement and the rights of migrant workers. 5.10 Through the complaints it received, the NIHR has identified a number of cases of suspected trafficking in persons of (167) cases since 20132018 pertaining to workers of different nationalities, most of which were complaints regarding not getting paid for their work, confiscation of their passports by the employers, or forcing them to work for additional hours in jobs different from what was agreed upon in the contracts. The NIHR coordinated these complaints with the competent bodies as a preliminary step toward obtaining the complainants’ demands and entitlements in full. 5.11 Within the framework to develop the mechanisms of communication with citizens and residents in order to reach the maximum level of 15 For more information, please review the Second Annual Report of the NIHR, 2014, Chapter III: Section 1: Combating Trafficking in Persons (www.nihr.org.bh). Parallel Report by the National Institution for Human Rights of the Kingdom of Bahrain to the Human Rights Committee © 2018 37