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 Bilateral Agreements & International Cooperation |
Bilateral Agreements & International Partnerships
Human trafficking in the UAE has its point of origin in the home nations of guest workers. Recognizing the need to coordinate anti-human trafficking efforts with labor-exporting countries, the UAE has signed agreements with several labor-exporting countries – including India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, China, Thailand and Philippines – during the last two years to regulate the flow of workforce. In order to deny unscrupulous private recruitment agencies from cheating and trafficking workers, all labor contract transactions will be processed by labor ministries or offices in the supplying countries.
Further, cooperation with the Philippines and India, for example, has resulted in these two countries announcing their refusal to grant emigration clearance to women under 25 and 30 years of age respectively who wish to work in the region in order to protect younger women from possible abuse. A wage standard has been introduced by some of these countries including Philippines, Indonesia, India and Sri Lanka. Other bilateral and international agreements include:
- Collaboration with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to help recreate the UAE police administration into a “centre of excellence” for region-wide information distribution and law enforcement, which will greatly benefit human trafficking issues.
- Promoting partnerships with non-government organizations and institutes to exchange knowledge and expertise in the field of human trafficking. The UAE aims to increase the number of such cooperation agreements as part of an effective anti-human trafficking strategy. At present, the National Committee to Combat Human Trafficking is engaged in promoting a strategy of forging links at the government to government level to ensure a cascade effect down to government departments and even individual networks and ties. The NGOs and social support organizations are being actively encouraged to collaborate and partner with similar organizations around the world. The Dubai Foundation for Women and Children, for example, is closely coordinating with the IOM offices in differing countries for the repatriation of victims. The Abu Dhabi Shelter for Victims of Human Trafficking, although in its nascent stages, is planning regular visits and exchanges with a number of shelters and trafficking experts around the world in order to introduce international benchmarks in the operational management of the shelter. The police authorities and human rights divisions within those authorities are building solid partnerships with other law enforcement agencies from a variety of countries in order to acquire expertise and in-country capacity to help bring traffickers to justice.
- UN.GIFT (United Nations Global Initiative to Fight Trafficking) – As part of the UAE’s commitment to tackle this crime globally and take a lead in this fight, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, committed 55 million dirhams (US$ 15 million) to support the UN.GIFT, which is coordinated by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. This included sponsoring the United Nations Conference on Trafficking in Persons in Vienna in February 2008, in which the UAE participated proactively, both to disseminate information about its experience and learn from the experts of other participating countries from around the world in terms of data gathering capabilities and investigative techniques. The donation was made out of the belief that the creation of a forum for other countries, multiple UN agencies, intergovernmental entities and the non-governmental sector, all working together under a single banner would lead to unprecedented cooperation by the international community. The Vienna Forum on human trafficking was the first global forum of its kind to be held on such an international scale. Bringing together over 130 countries and 1,600 experts and NGOs working on this issue, the conference was hailed as a great success by the steering committee of the UN.GIFT organizers, as well as many of the delegates who attended the forum. The UAE continues to hold a seat on the steering committee of the UN.GIFT and will proactively ensure that the momentum created by the forum is followed through by further initiatives and implementation.
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