COMBATING HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN THE UAE

 Treats human trafficking as part of organized crime  Criminal prosecution for offenders  Penalties range from six months to life in prison  Financial fines from about 100,000 to one million dirhams Federal Law 51 (2006)

 NCCHT established in  Supports and implements Federal Law 51  Acts as a coordinating body at federal and local levels  Committee first had 12 members – now increased to 20  Members from various ministries, police, judiciary and NGOs National Committee to Combat Human Trafficking

Cases/Traffickers/Victims (2013) EmirateCasesTraffickersVictims ABU DHABI395 DUBAI82610 SHARJAH6117 AJMAN242 TOTAL195024

Case history

Convictions ( )

National Strategy  ‘Five Ps’ strategy – shift from four-pillar strategy o Prevention o Prosecution o Punishment o Protection o Promotion (of international cooperation)

PUBLIC AWARENESS

Victim protection  Five holistic shelters for victims  Dubai Foundation for Women and Children – established in 2007  Under the umbrella of the UAE Red Crescent Authority, Ewa’a – Shelter for Women and Children, Abu Dhabi, opened in 2008  Two more shelters opened in Sharjah & Ras Al Khaimah in 2010  Male shelter opened in January 2013 to help prospective victims

PROMOTION (of international cooperation)  May 2007 – ratified the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime (2000)  Ratified the United Nations Protocol to prevent, suppress and punish trafficking in persons, especially women and children (Palermo Protocol)  Signed agreements with several labour-exporting countries to regulate the flow of workforce  Part of the 20-member Group of Friends United Against Human Trafficking  2013 – formal member of the Bali Process and its Ad Hoc Group to address human trafficking

PROMOTION (of international cooperation)  Donated $15 million to support the UN.GIFT  Signed the Declaration on the Global Efforts to Combat Trafficking in Persons in New York 2011  Collaboration with the International Training Centre of the Republic of Belarus  Cooperation with IOM, ILO and UNODC  Part of Arab strategy to build national capacity to combat human trafficking  UN Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children, visiting UAE

Dissemination of information Annual report evolution 2008 report 50 pages report 115 pages

Challenges  Majority of UAE’s workforce is made up of foreigners  Better coordination between worker-sending and worker receiving countries  Labour versus sexual exploitation  Responsibility of private sector  Private-public sector cooperation

Conclusion  The UAE admits existence of the problem in the country, like many others in the world  Government is committed to cooperating with the international community to check human trafficking  Action plan to counter human trafficking has yielded results  Realizes it needs to do more, and is keen to intensify its efforts.

Thank You