Sara Shuhail, Director General of Ewa’a Shelters for Victims of Human Trafficking, welcomed the visiting delegation and stressed the Shelters readiness to share experience in this regard. Sara Shuhail mentioned the entities referring victims to the Shelters, quoting the 800 Save hotline, which has been approved by the National Committee for Combatting Human Trafficking as a hotline for the United Arab Emirates.

She also explained the procedures followed in the Shelters since victim reception, which include immediate referral to the competent medical authority as the victim might be carrying a contagious disease, suffering from a chronic disease requiring immediate medical intervention, pregnant, or mentally in distress.
She pointed out that social workers and psychological specialists in the Shelters start their work by examining the social and psychological circumstances. For the victims to restore psychological balance, the right program is developed. Every victim, then, joins a suitable rehabilitation program. There are professional and vocational trainings, conducted in the Shelters or in 5-star hotels. Ewaa Shelters have signed MOUs according to which approved certificates are granted to victims to help them find jobs in their homelands upon their return, or in the alternative homelands where they settle.

Moreover, Shuhail explained that the rehabilitation programs organized by the shelters involve accompanying victims in shopping malls, and trips to parks and similar places, which helps create a sense of community among the victims and encourages each victim to share her cruel experience. She noted that the rehabilitation programs, and social and psychosocial studies, vary according to the victim’s gender, “female/male”, and age “female adult, male adult, child”.

Sara Shuhail added that Ewaa Shelters are working with their strategic partners, and through the National Committee for Combatting Human Trafficking Crimes, to raise public awareness, maintain public security and stability, and positively represent the UAE in the international community.

She talked about the financial assistance provided by the Shelters to the victims upon their return to their countries or to alternative home countries, as well as the financial support provided by the Victims’ Support Fund to this category of victims, to invest in small, income-generating projects that help improve their living conditions.

Admired by the experience of Ewaa Shelters, the delegation members stressed the need to share these experiences to ensure a higher level of efforts to combat this humiliating crime.