UAE works with ILO to combat human trafficking, forced labour

Abu Dhabi: UAE continues its efforts to combat human trafficking and fight forced labour with the amendment of Federal Law 51 to better safeguard trafficking victims, said senior officials.

The National Committee to combat human trafficking in collaboration with International Labour Organisation (ILO) has recently organised a workshop in efforts to improve the staff’s skills to deal with all types of human trafficking crimes.

Dr Anwar Mohammad Gargash, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, said earlier that the commitment of the UAE’s legal institutions has led to sustained increased in awareness about human trafficking over the last few years.

“While only 10 cases were reported in 2007, the figure doubled to 20 cases in 2008, went up to 43 in 2009, 58 in 2010, reduced to 37 in 2011 and increased to 47 in 2012,” according to the UAE annual human trafficking report for 2012-2013.

The workshop, titled “The ILO Special Action Programme combating Forced Labour (SAP-FL)”, was held based on the constructive criticism received from various partners as well as the international community.

“The cooperation between the committee and ILO builds on the ongoing efforts undertaken by the committee to improve the skills of staff members, who are dealing with different types of human trafficking crimes, including that of forced labour and labour exploitation,” said Dr Saeed Mohammad Al Ghafli, assistant undersecretary of Federal National Council Affairs at the Ministry of State and member of National Committee to combat human trafficking.

The National Committee will work with the relevant entities in the UAE to focus more on crimes related to labour abuse and uphold the rights of workers in the UAE.

“The committee is working to leverage all measures to eliminate theses crimes,” Al Ghafli added.

The workshop focused on the new strategy of the National Committee to Combat Human Trafficking, which is based on the “five Ps” — prevention, prosecution, punishment, protection and promotion of international cooperation in line with the international best practices in this field.

The workshop was attended by representatives from the Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Labour, Ministry of Social Affairs, Ministry of Health, Naturalisation and Residency Department, Dubai Police, Ewa’a centres and the Emirates Association for Human Rights.

Commending the UAE efforts to fight human trafficking, Houtan Homaenpour, senior programme and operation officer in ILO, said: “Human trafficking and forced labour are big problems facing all countries in the world. The UAE has managed to achieve significant achievements in fighting theses crimes through international cooperation in addition to its commitment to promote adequate training to the staff members.”