The Gulf Today, May 15, 2013
UAE plays vital role in
fight against trafficking, stresses minister at UN
May 15, 2013
NEW YORK: The UAE continues its
efforts to combat human
trafficking through co-operation
with partners, said Dr Abdul
Rahim Yousif Al Awadi, Assistant
Foreign Minister for Legal
Affairs in a statement on Monday
before high-level meetings on
improving the co-ordination of
efforts against human
trafficking.
“The UAE has contributed to many
tangible achievements through
commitment and the United
Nations Global Plan of Action to
Combat Trafficking in Persons,”
he said, noting that the UAE
also contributed to the
establishment of a trust fund to
help victims of trafficking, and
the release of the first report
on trafficking in persons in
2012, prepared by the United
Nations Office on Drugs and
Crime.
Tackling human trafficking, he
continued, depends largely on
addressing poverty and weakness
that lead victims to become
prey, as well as building
national capacities to tackle
such a crime.
He noted that the responsibility
of combating trafficking in
persons is not the sole
responsibility of the countries
where the crimes take place, but
is a shared responsibility with
the source countries, where the
victims come from.
Al Awadi reiterated that home
countries of victims should
prevent factors that lead to the
exploitation of victims, and
ensure that women are not
exploited under the pretext of
labour recruitment and
exportation.
The UAE official said there
should be co-ordination between
labour exporting countries and
labour importing countries.
Al Awadi cited the UAE’s
achievements in dealing with
human trafficking crimes since
the launch of the Comprehensive
National Campaign for Anti-Human
Trafficking in 2006 in
accordance with international
measures, such as trial of those
accused, protection of victims
and strengthening global
partnerships in this respect.
He said that the UAE enacted the
Federal Anti-Trafficking law in
2006, whose provisions cover all
forms of human trafficking,
noting that the law was the
first of its kind in the Middle
East. He added that the State
has implemented a number of
awareness procedures through the
media and at the entry ports
nationwide.
He referred to the recent report
released by the National
Committee for Anti-Human
Trafficking for 2012-2013 and
the effectiveness of the law
enforcement agencies.
Al Awadi said the UAE joined the
United Nations Convention
against Trans-national Organised
Crime (Organised Crime
Convention) and its special
protocol to prevent and punish
the crime of human trafficking,
especially women and children.
He added that when the UN
initiative on trafficking in
persons was launched in 2008,
General Sheikh Mohammed Bin
Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of
Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme
Commander of the UAE Armed
Forces, donated $15 million in
support of the initiative.
He underlined that the UAE
government was aware of the
multiple challenges associated
with human trafficking crimes, a
situation he said, “that
requires concerted international
action to tackle.”
WAM