Human trafficking decreasing in Dubai: Police chief

Crimes related to human trafficking have decreased in the emirate of Dubai to six this year from 35 in 2010 due to extensive campaigns to increase the community’s awareness about the dangers of such crimes, said Lt. General Khamis Mattar Al Muzainah, Commander-in-chief of Dubai Police.

Muzainah was speaking at a graduation ceremony where the first batch of 22 graduates was awarded diploma for a course on human trafficking and its prevention.

''Dubai Police pay significant attention to the issue of combating human trafficking crimes and they are teaming up with other partners and stakeholders to update training and qualification programmes within its strategy to deliver security and stability,'' he said in his address.

''The degree, the first of its kind in the Arab World, aims to qualify an elite group of government employees to handle such crimes with high professionalism and competence,'' he noted. They gained theoretical and practical skills and knowledge on mechanisms to detect and prevent crimes in human trafficking, help and protect victims, offer psychological support for them and fight all forms and manifestations of the crime.

He said that 1,635 trainees had participated in 40 workshops on combating crimes related to trafficking in human beings and 16,647 people had benefited from 56 awareness lectures organised by Dubai Police's Human Trafficking Crime Control Center (HTCCC).

He said Dubai Police in partnership with the National Committee to Combat Human Trafficking (NCCHT) launched two campaigns from 2013 to 2015 to educate arrivals through Dubai International Airport about the danger of the crime. Over the last two years, an awareness campaign targeted domestic helpers recruitment agencies.

Addressing the ceremony, Dr. Abdul Rahim Al Awadi, Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation for Legal Affairs, the launch of the programme was a creative idea and supported the government's effort to fight the human trafficking crime.

'' Seventeen cases of human trafficking was registered in 2015 under Federal Law No. (51) of 2006 on Combating Human Trafficking Crimes, an indicator of the success of the campaign launched by the government ten years ago,'' he said in his an address read on behalf of Addressing the ceremony on behalf of Dr. Anwar bin Mohammed Gargash, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, and Chairman of NCCHT.

''The UAE's anti-human trafficking experiment has become a leading model globally,'' he added.

The anti-human trafficking diploma programme includes all issues related to international agreement in human trafficking which will help officials develop techniques needed for investigation and protection of human trafficking victims.

The training programme is in line with the strategy of the NCCHT that focuses on four issues - prevention, penalty, victim care and enhancing international cooperation