Sex trafficking continues in the Gulf, despite strong government efforts to crack down on the crime. Just last month, a Moroccan woman was charged for luring another woman into the UAE and forcing her into prostitution. Given the underground nature of sex trafficking and the presence of undocumented migrants in the Gulf, such a case is far from the exception.

While there has been a promising decrease in human trafficking cases reported over the years in the UAE specifically, the global sex trade still marks the region as a prime destination. This is partly due to the fast pace of economic development and an infant regulatory framework for the labour market. Unfortunately, the end destination of sex trafficking is often prostitution. From an economic lens, prostitution is essentially a supply-demand problem. Those demanding sex acts are unnamed Gulf residents. On the supply side are women who: a) Knowingly enter the Gulf on tourist visas to prostitute, b) flee from exploitative sponsors and turn to prostitution to make ends meet, or c) are lured to the Gulf under false pretences and then forced into prostitution. Linked explicitly to this last type are the home- and destination-country sex traffickers.

So far, the UAE’s fight against trafficking has focused on the five P’s of prevention, prosecution, punishment, protection, and promotion of international cooperation. In September, the country began negotiations with Thailand to sign a Memorandum of Understanding to combat human trafficking. Much of the legal momentum surrounding sex trafficking in the country developed with Federal Law 51 of 2006, while the establishment of the National Committee to Combat Human Trafficking (NCCHT) the following year strengthened the law by improving coordination amongst emirates and with international partners. On the victim support front, entities such as Ewa’a and the Dubai Foundation for Women and Children cater to violence against women including that derived through sex trafficking.

All of these methods address the supply side of the equation by attempting to curb the trade in flesh. However, it is largely ineffective to focus efforts solely on brothel owners and traffickers. Imprisonment or deportation is not a sustainable solution, since it leaves a temporary vacuum in the sex industry that is soon filled by other traffickers.

Zero-tolerance policy

While the government’s five-pronged strategy to combat human trafficking involves the right mechanisms and structure, the other side of the equation now needs to be targeted. Cracking down on commercial sex consumers in the Gulf would lead to a quick contraction of the market for prostitution and consequently that of sex trafficking. The demand for prostitution should be viewed as a crime with a zero-tolerance policy, and treated accordingly. Men should be held both responsible and accountable for their criminal purchase of sex. This argument is the crux of the Nordic model, which criminalises buyers of sex while decriminalising individuals sold for sex purposes. Epitomised by Sweden, which first introduced the bill in 1999, the Nordic model was soon after adopted by other countries that consequently saw marked decreases in the number of male buyers demanding prostitution.

The development of a sex trafficking response based in part on the Nordic experience would require frontline law enforcement officers specially trained in recognising and responding to consumer trends in prostitution. For the UAE, a vigorous public awareness campaign by the NCCHT directed towards men should also take place. Empathy is key here. Imagine rephrasing the fight on a personal level — if a male consumer were taught to think of a prostitute foremost as a human being, someone who by a twist of fate could have been his sister, daughter, wife, or mother, he is unlikely to engage in this abhorrent act that thrives on the commodification of women.

Accompanying the demand-centric approach to countering sex trafficking should be extensive research into the issue. The nameless and the faceless—the men who solicit prostitution— should in particular be studied in greater detail. Which demographic sub-sectors are more likely to be clients of prostitution? What may deter consumers from purchasing sex acts? It is only by addressing both supply- and demand-side determinants of the prostitution market that the industry can be crippled and sex trafficking forced to breathe its last breath.

Vidya Diwakar is a research analyst at The Delma Institute specialising in socio-economic issues in the Mena region.