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The ordinance also set mechanisms to ensure the rights of enterprises that rely in their operations on employment agencies and guarantees the rights of workers during and after the recruitment process. The ordinance included mechanisms to reduce certain malpractices that may occur as a result of recruitment operations, and stipulated a set of guarantees and commitments from the agencies including transparency during the entire process of employment beginning from the phase of recruiting from the worker’s country of origin until the operations of the firm in which he will work. Gobash said the new ordinance provides for enough transparency through giving the worker the opportunity to read his original employment contract which will be accredited in the UAE while he begins the employment. The new decision prohibited any agency from importing workers with another agency or individuals inside the UAE or abroad unless that agency is licensed for this work according to the UAE law. The decision also made it clear that the workers of any agency may not work in other agencies.

 Dr Al Gafli was addressing a workshop organised by Dubai Police titled ?Human Trafficking, Reality and Hope.? The workshop was held at the Higher College of Technology for girls in Dubai to mark International Human Rights Day. It was announced during the event that the UAE will soon rope in international investigators drawn from police and other government agencies to combat human trafficking.

The UAE?s efforts to combat human trafficking started in 2005 and in 2006 the UAE enforced Federal Law No 51 to combat human trafficking and create a mechanism to implement this law. The National Committee to Combat Human Trafficking was established in 2007. The UAE government is aware of the challenges associated with human trafficking as criminal behaviour against humanity; we work not only to overcome exploitation of women, but to be trained in how to combat this trafficking of women,? Dr Al Gafli said.

The NCCHT is conducting several workshops and training courses as part of efforts to continuously improve the skills of law enforcement agents in the UAE in dealing with human trafficking cases and victims, he added.

?As part of the government?s efforts to overcome human trafficking crimes, the NCCHT cooperates with other countries and international agencies in this regard. Combating this crime is a goal and the UAE is part of international efforts,? he said.

Colonel Dr Mohammad Al Murr, head of the human rights department at Dubai Police, said: ?The UAE started its fight against human trafficking six years ago and is still going ahead in its fight. The Human Trafficking Crimes Control Centre in Dubai Police organised a number of training courses and meetings in order to train its members on how to identify human trafficking victims and support them, and how to discover such crimes.? he said.

Colonel Mohammad Ali Al Shehi, a NCCHT member highlighted the difficulties faced by law enforcement agencies tackling human traffickers. ?It was hard at the beginning to identify such crimes in the UAE because it is a global crime and it is difficult to track those involved. Trafficking is a thriving global business that generates billions of dollars and accounts for millions of victims every year. It is also linked to other organised crimes like human smuggling, drug trafficking and money laundering.?

Brigadier Nakhira said it is very important to raise awareness and knowledge about human trafficking victims at residency departments and borders to help curb this crime and offering support to human trafficking victims.
The workshop which was organised at the Dubai Police Officers Club was also attended by Brigadier Dr Abdullah Sahoo, Director of the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs in Sharjah, Colonel Dr Mohammad Al Murr, Director of Human Rights Department at Dubai Police and Colonel Mohammad Ali Al Shihi, member of the anti-human trafficking committee at the Ministry of Interior, among other officials.
This workshop is part of several organised by Dubai Police to expose human trafficking crimes and to reveal their danger to society on all levels.

The regional training workshop for building the capacity of law enforcement investigators to combat human trafficking, discussed during the third day a number of issues.
David Newton and Andrew Desmond lectured on risk assessment in investigations related to trafficking in human beings, and using specialised techniques in such investigations, besides investigation methods in cases of trafficking in human beings. Also reviewed were practical issues related to investigation of crimes of trafficking in human beings.

 As per the draft federal law, specialised child protection units with a judicial status will be set up to ensure the safety of children in situations where their safety or health is endangered in any way.

These teams will coordinate with the relevant authorities to carry out interventions in a preventive capacity or even to extend medical treatment where necessary.

?The interests of children and their needs must take precedence over anything. Their right is a duty, and it is our responsibility to cooperate and achieve it,? Shaikh Mohammad said. ?The new law covers all aspects related to children?s rights, and contains mechanisms that ensure its implementation, as well as punishments that will thwart people whose morals and religious beliefs do not stop them from violating the rights of children.?

Shaikh Mohammad ordered that the law be named “Wudeema?s law” in reference to the eight-year-old girl who was allegedly murdered by her father and buried in the desert.

Senior chief prosecutor Mohammad Ali Rustom, head of Family and Juveniles Prosecution (FJP) in Dubai, said the draft law is a timely move and will assure children the full protection and preservation of their rights.

?The draft law surely contains many articles that are in favour of the children and their rights. It has also come to protect children and maintain their rights before a crime is committed or a kid is abused. It also holds everybody [parents, schools and social bodies and concerned authorities] relatively responsible for children?s protection and preservation of their rights,? he said.

?In cases of negligence or carelessness, the new draft law has come to hold everybody, who is directly or indirectly responsible for children?s protection and rights, criminally liable,? Rustom told Gulf News.

Advocate Mukhtar Gareeb, who specialises in family cases, said the draft law proposes to hold society as a whole responsible for children?s safety and security.

?All members and bodies of the society should be held responsible for the kids? protection or the preservation of their rights and not only the parent independently. Now everybody will be held liable. Any adult who fails to report incidents wherein a child?s safety is threatened to concerned authorities could be fined Dh50,000,” advocate Gareeb said.

The law seeks to protect every child regardless of religion, nationality, origin, or social class.

With regard to a child?s cultural rights, the law prohibits the possession or selling of any audio-visual publications or gaming material that may tempt a child to carry out any unlawful actions. Failure to do so will result in a fine of at least Dh100,000 and a one-year jail term.

The draft law also stresses children?s right to education and forbids any forms of violence against them in an educational institution.

It calls for protecting them from being taken advantage of or mistreated, besides acts of negligence, or forcing them into begging, and exposing them to any bodily or psychological harm.

It emphasises the importance of informing child protection specialists if children?s safety is threatened and obliges every adult to inform the specialised authority about any threats if so requested by a child. Any adult who fails in such duty will be fined Dh50,000.

Any parent applying to be the custodian of a child has to present a detailed report on his social status and criminal records, as well as a report stating that the individual applying for custodianship of the child has not committed any crimes abroad.

The draft law also stipulates that any individual using a child for photographing, recording or distributing pornographic materials will be jailed for a period of not less than 10 years.

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Anyone convicted of abusing holy shrines or religious rituals or insulting them or inciting others to do so shall also face jail. Those convicted of publishing any illegal content or failing  to remove the same off the internet within the grace period given by authorities shall be jailed, fined or face both penalties.

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