Life in prison, Dh100,000 fine for human trafficking

Human traffickers target the young, poor and less-educated in order to easily control, exploit and abuse them, law professionals say. 

Last year, 106 defendants trafficked 34 victims into the UAE to be forced into the sex industry or be sold, said Legal Consultant Hassan Elhais from Al Rowad Advocates. 

"The majority of victims as per the report of UAE's National Committee to Combat Human Trafficking (NCCHT) are aged between 18-25 and the rest between 26-40, with 98 percent from Asian countries and from poor communities, and of course most of them didn't get a good education," said Mr Elhais. 

He pointed out that its not random how the majority of victims come from poor and unfortunate places. 

"Traffickers usually target the young, poor and less educated, the report stated  that seven of last year's victims in Abu Dhabi were illiterate, four went only through primary education, two through elementary education and only three made it to high school. These victims were specifically picked in order for their traffickers to easily control them," said Mr Elhais adding that the number of human trafficking cases announced in the annual report of the NCCHT doesn't mean an increase in the number of such crimes, but rather mean an increase in arrests. 

A copy of the report analyzed and studied by Mr Elhais shows that traffickers mostly abuse these women's lack of any legal knowledge and scare them with threats of being handed to authorities. 

"They convince them into believing that they will be incarcerated if they fled because they are in debt to the traffickers who paid their travel expenses," he said adding that many other forms of abuse practiced on these women include sex and physical assaults, issuing threats and confinement. 

Emirati lawyer Awatif Mohammed believes that all defendants arrested in relation to human trafficking cases and prosecuted, are merely the little men while the lords remain free. 

"The UAE is fiercely battling human trafficking networks and soon enough will strangle their activity inside the country," she said, adding that the UAE's newly announced law on domestic workers will make it harder for traffickers to lure maids with promises of better wages, and the amended law on combatting human trafficking toughened punishments which is now blocking the way for traffickers. 

Law 1 for the years 2005 amended by law 1 for the year 2015 identified human trafficking and every act that is considered by the law as an act of human trafficking, she said.