UAE | Government
US human trafficking report disappoints UAE officials
A US State Department report on human trafficking that downgraded the UAE has met with sharp criticism from UAE officials who believe it is ambiguous and inconsistent.
- By Eman Mohammed Abu Dhabi Deputy Editor, Wafa Issa and Abbas Al Lawati, Staff Reporters
- Published: 22:37 June 20, 2009
- Image Credit: Arshad Ali/Gulf News
- The report does not reflect the reality in the UAE, says Afra Al Basti.
Dubai: A US State Department report on human trafficking that downgraded the UAE has met with sharp criticism from UAE officials who believe it is ambiguous and inconsistent.
The State Trafficking in Persons report for June 2009 classified the UAE as falling under "tier two", dropping one spot from last year, saying there were no "discernable anti-trafficking efforts against the forced labour of temporary migrant workers and domestic servants".
Dr Anwar Mohammad Gargash, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and Minister of State for Federal National Council Affairs, issued a statement on Tuesday describing the report as "disappointing" and "subjective".
"It appears that the US definition of human trafficking varies every year, depending on the nature of debate on this issue in its domestic environment.
"It is incongruous to equate alleged labour rights violations, which are a critical but separate issue, to the coercive and unacceptable sexual exploitation of women for profit," said Gargash.
The report said that the UAE "historically has not recognised people forced into labour as trafficking victims". However, the definition of human trafficking according to Article 1 of the UAE's Federal Law 51 of 2006 on Combating Human Trafficking Crimes is almost identical to that of the United Nations, which also considers forced labour as human trafficking.
"The anti-trafficking law recognises forced labour but they want us to include it in an article in the labour law. Different countries have different methods that serve the same purpose," Dr Saeed Bin Omair Al Ghafly, Executive Director at the Ministry of State for the FNC affairs, told Gulf News, adding that the report was "demotivating".
"What is saddening is that we sat with them [authors of the report] and clarified issues with them, but they don't seem to have taken that into considerations," he said.
"There is no clear definition of the minimum standards that are cited."
Afra Al Basti, CEO of the Dubai Women and Children Foundation (DWCF), said that her shelter was approached by researchers for the State Department to schedule a visit, but the date the shelter offered was not convenient for them.
"The report does not reflect the reality in the UAE and many of the efforts carried out by the government to combat human trafficking were only briefly cited. Our efforts to liaise with international organisations in the victims' home countries were left out."
She said however that steps needed to be taken by the authorities to combat human trafficking, such as putting limits on entry of girls between 15 and 30 from high risk countries.
Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan Tamim, Chief of Dubai Police, said: "I stopped reading these reports several years ago. It's full of contradictions". He questioned the credibility of a report coming from a state "that violates human rights in front of the whole world".
"Our conscience dictates our efforts, and not the US government," he said.
Rashid Musabah Al Kindi, member of the Federal National Council who sits on a committee for labour issues, said the report was not fair and the UAE was made to pay for other people's mistakes, referring to fraudsters in other countries who lure young women to the UAE for job opportunities and force them into prostitution.
On the issue of passports, he said: "Keeping workers' passports is the employer's right and not a violation for human rights as stated in the report".
"In case workers commit a crime then it is the employer's responsibility and keeping his passport will prevent him from leaving the country."
Abdul Rahim Al Shahin, also a member of the FNC, questioned why the UAE was being "attacked" when other countries' violations were not being talked about.
"The UAE lately hosted a conference for Human Right Watch and celebrated for the first time labour day which is mainly for foreign workers," he added.
Comparison: Forced labour
Below are the definitions of human trafficking as per the United Nations and UAE law. Contrary to claims by a US State Department human trafficking report, the UAE does consider forced labour to be a form of human trafficking in law.
UN Definition: The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime defines human trafficking as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.
Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs.
UAE definition: According to UAE's Federal Law 51 of 2006 on Combating Human Trafficking Crimes, human trafficking is: recruiting, transporting, transferring, harbouring, or receiving persons by means of threat or use of force, or other forms of coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power or of position, taking advantage of the vulnerability of the person, or, the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person for the purpose of exploitation.
Exploitation includes all forms of sexual exploitation, engaging others in prostitution, servitude, forced labour, enslavement, quasi-slavery practices, or detachment of organs.
- Staff report
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