Archive : Middle East

About 71.5 per cent of respondents said they were conscious enough about different crimes of human trafficking while 41 per cent affirmed their ability to identify such crimes, according to an opinion poll conducted by the Emirates Human Rights Association (EHRA). Mohammed Al Hammadi, EHRA secretary-general, commented on the findings of the poll, saying human trafficking is one of the most dangerous transnational crimes that abuses human rights and has far-reaching social repercussions in many countries.

A 42-year-old Indian businessman, identified as Q.A., and a 26-year-old compatriot juice maker, identified as S.S., were sentenced to three years in prison on Wednesday for human trafficking and illegal confinement of a Filipina woman. Q.A. was also given additional three years for raping the victim. The Court of First Instance ordered that both the defendants be deported after serving their prison terms. According to the prosecution records, the duo duped the woman to come to the UAE with the offer of a secretary’s job at Q.A.’s company.

Proceedings of human trafficking seminar began at the HQs' of the Directorate-General of Inquiries and Criminal Investigations yesterday under the auspices of Maj Gen Salim bin Mussalam bin Ali Qatan, Assistant Inspector General of Police and Customs for Operations. The three-day seminar is organized by the Royal Oman Police (ROP) in co-operation with the Embassy of the United States of America in Muscat. Present in the seminar were Richard J Schmierer, USA Ambassador to the Sultanate, judges, members at the Public Prosecution and members of the National Committee for Combating Human Trafficking.

Two women have denied charges of sexual exploitation by promising two women bogus jobs in Dubai before forcing them to have sex with up to 30 strangers every day. Prosecutors accused the women, a 48-year-old from Uzbekistan, O.D, and a 50-year-old from Azerbaijan, N.S, of exploiting the fact that the alleged victims came to find a better job in Dubai, and forcing them into prostitution.

Three women are accused of luring a visitor to Dubai on the promise of getting her work as a babysitter, but instead forced her into prostitution. Prosecutors charged the three Uzbek women – 50-year-old J.J., 28-year-old J.D. and 25-year-old D.H. - of sexually exploiting their 23-year-old countrywoman, Y.A., and forcing her to have sex with strangers for money.

Three women visitors were charged with human trafficking in the Court of First Instance on Tuesday. The three women, all Uzbek aged 50, 28 and 25, allegedly fooled their compatriot into coming to the UAE to work as a nanny and forced her into prostitution under threat and beating. The 50-year-old main woman defendant is accused along with a 51-year-old Iranian man, a trader, of running a brothel in an apartment in Muraqqabat. The two other women are also accused of indulging in prostitution.

Officials said her gang encouraged maids to abscond with promises of better work. Instead, they were locked up and made to sleep with men. The head of the organised crime department, Brigadier Abdul Raheem Mohammad, said: “The leader of the gang was a housemaid who escaped from her boss and soon started building her own gang.

The representative of International Organization for Migration in Yemen, Fawzi al-Zaboud, called on the National Unity Government to form a national committee to be tasked with combating human trafficking, as the Yemeni team which has recently visited Egypt recommended. At the opening of a workshop on the legal, International, and strategic techniques to combat human trafficking, al-Zaboud said that the Yemeni team, formed of many governmental bodies, has learned many techniques used in curbing human trafficking.

The Qatar Foundation for Combating Human Trafficking (QFCHT) has agreed with the Arab League unit for combating human trafficking to raise the level of mutual co-operation. QFCHT director general Maryam al-Maliki received the Arab League delegation, headed by judge Adel Majid, the league’s expert on human trafficking affairs, at QFCHT headquarters yesterday. The delegation congratulated QFCHT on the organisation of two Doha workshops recently on building national capacities to combat human trafficking.

The UAE’s official campaign against human trafficking has entered its sixth year with the number of reported cases declining sharply. Releasing the ‘Combating Human Trafficking in the UAE – Annual Report 2011-2012’ at a press conference on Tuesday, Dr Anwar Mohammed Gargash, Minister of State for Federal National Council Affairs and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, who is also the Chairman of National Committee to Combat Human Trafficking, said the results of the last five years suggest that the government has made significant and rapid progress. “The process began with the enactment of Federal Law 51 in 2006 and the establishment of the National Committee to Combat Human Trafficking (NCCHT) in 2007.