Awareness campaign launched for maids and their recruiters

Dubai: A two-year awareness campaign for domestic helpers and their recruitment companies in Dubai was launched on Thursday to highlight the dangers of human trafficking for sexual exploitation.

The campaign is a joint initiative of Dubai Police, the UAE National Committee to Combat Human Trafficking (NCCHT), The Ministry of Labour, The Department of Economic Development (DED), and the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs – Dubai (GDRFA).

Brigadier Mohammad Al Murr, Director of the Human Rights Department at Dubai Police, said that statistics from Dubai Police about victims of human trafficking in the past five years showed that many of the victims had initially been recruited as domestic workers.

In 2010, the number of human trafficking victims stood at 61, of which 24 were found to be housemaids. In 2011, the total number of victims was put at 39, of which 10 were maids and, in 2012, there were 37 victims, of which 13 were maids.

“The numbers have gone down significantly over the years as in 2013 there were only 13 cases and only four of them involved maids and, in 2014, there were only six cases and only three were maids, but as long as a statistics exist we will continue to work, until we eradicate this crime,” he said.

There are two main ways in which maids end up as victims of human trafficking gangs, Brigadier Al Murr said. In most cases, a member of a gang instigates a domestic worker to abscond so she could earn more or find better working conditions only to force her into prostitution once she leaves her job. At other times, a woman arrives in the country after being promised a job as a maid only to fall into the clutches of a gang that forces her into prostitution.

There are also cases where a visa is issued for a maid on the sponsorship of one person, but another person meets her at the airport and traffics her while convincing the sponsor that the maid did not arrive.

The new campaign will mainly focus on working with recruitment companies as partners in combating the crime of human traficking, Brig. Al Murr said. “We want them to be aware of the crime and how to prevent it,” he said.

There are some 111 recruitment agencies for domestic workers in Dubai.

Awareness lectures will be held for recruitment agencies and their recruits as part of the campaign. Brochures will also be distributed in nine languages, besides booklets.

Dr. Mohammad Saeed Al Ghufli, Assistant Undersecretary for Federal National Council Affairs and Secretary of NCCHT, said that the issue of debt slavery is one of the reasons why domestic workers might consider running away from their employers in the hope of a better salary, often falling victim to human traffickers.

“We are well aware of the problem that is debt slavery. Recruitment companies in the UAE work with recruitment companies in other countries to find candidates. Some of those external recruitment agencies force their recruits to pay back large debts in exchange for giving them the job opportunity,” he said.

This is illegal, he said, but the UAE has no jurisdiction to change the laws in other countries, “so we will work on educating companies here to not work with companies abroad that practice debt slavery,” he said.

None of the recruitment agencies in the country had been linked to human trafficking over the years, Al Ghufli said.

Colonel Abdul Rahim Sahfei, Director of the Organised Crime Department at Dubai Police’s Criminal Investigation department, said: “It is important for the domestic workers to know that she has rights that are protected by the law and she can seek police’s help in case of any violation.”

Some of the women come from countries where corruption is rampant and police officials are involved with trafficking gangs, leading them to suspect the same might the case here, Col. Sahfei said explaining why some women chose not to report their ordeals.

The Ministry of Labour, DED, and the GDRFA, will also conduct regular inspections to catch up with violators.

Lt. Colonel Dr Sultan Al Jamal, Director of the Dubai Police Human Trafficking Crime Control Centre at Dubai Police’s Human Rights Department, said that the centre had been commissioned by the Ministry of Interior to conduct a study on the reasons behind the decrease in human trafficking in the UAE. The study will be released mid-December this year, he added.

Box or graphic:

Out of the 24 trafficking cases involving maids reported in 2010, five women were found to be absconding from their sponsors. In 2011, out of the 10 cases, one maid was an absconder. In 2012, out of the 13 cases of maids who fell victim to traffickers, six were found to be absconders. In 2013, out of four trafficking cases involving maids that came to light, none were absconders and, in 2014, all three cases of maids found to have been trafficked were found to have absconded.

Ages of trafficked maids:

2010 – two were under 18

10 were between 18-25

14 were over 26

2011 – one was under 18

one was between 18-25

six were over 26

2012 – six were between 18-25

five were over 26

2013 - four were over 26

2014 - two were over 26