The Assistant Foreign Minister for Legal Affairs, Dr. Abdul-Rahim Al Awadi, expressed that fighting human trafficking “depends largely on addressing poverty and weakness, as well as on building national capacities to tackle such crime.” According to him, the U.A.E. has been committed in its contribution to this fight, which included the creation of a trust fund to aid those affected by human trafficking, and the release of a trafficked person’s report in 2012 for the first time. Dr. Al Awadi pointed out that addressing human trafficking is not merely a job for the countries where these crimes are taking place, instead, it is a “shared responsibility,” a cooperation with the countries where these trafficked persons came from. He says that coordination should occur between labor exporting countries and labor importing countries.

The U.A.E. has dealt with these crimes in accordance to international measures since the creation of the Comprehensive National Campaign for Anti-Human Trafficking in 2006; they established trials for those accused of trafficking, protected victims, and fortified global partnerships. Also, in 2006, the U.A.E. put the Federal Anti-Trafficking law into action, which is the “first law of its kind in the Middle East.” The state has also used the media to spread awareness and implemented procedures at entry ports.

In hopes of fighting human trafficking, and especially focusing on trafficking of women and children, the U.A.E. joined the U.N. Convention against trans-national organized crime. Further more, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi granted 15 million dollars to the United Nations initiative on human trafficking which was launched in 2008. Lastly, to the countries where persons are more prone to becoming victims of human trafficking, Dr. Al Awadi suggests that they avert the very factors which lead to human exploitation, and that they ensure that women are not falsely recruited and then exploited instead.

– Leen Abdallah
Source: Khaleej Times