This is so ?because of the dire need for economic improvements and the development of technology that has made people be easily tricked into it.?

He said human trafficking could only be resolved if governments address the victims? needs and rights, acknowledge their ?precarious situation, and provide adequate public-private support systems as well as compensation.

Elobaid stressed that human trafficking victims have the right to assistance because ?they are human beings and human trafficking is a violation human rights.?

He mentioned of their rights and which are: the right to life, the right to personal freedom, the right to domicile, the right to freedom of expression, and the right to redress and compensation.?

When this reporter cited that there are governments exerting multi-sectoral efforts and partnerships with other countries to curtail the global plague, but then it also boils down to the decision of people who consequently become ?willing victims,? Elobaid said: ?Even if they brought it upon themselves, they must not be punished.?

?We should be diligent in all our decisions. But the fact that we make mistakes does not make us subhuman. We must not be cold-hearted,? he added.

Elobaid stressed that all labour-sending and labour-receiving countries must intensify the campaign against human trafficking because taking care and looking after their citizens are their responsibility.

DFWAC director general Afra Al Basti said all human trafficking predators must pay for their crime and all the victims must be properly compensated.

Citing DFWAC records, she said the government agency received 15 cases of human trafficking in 2013 as referred by the Dubai Police.

Many were originally from Asia, either illiterate or university graduates, whose ages ranged from six months to 33 years old. The six-month-old baby was sold by her mother and one of the four children under 18 years old had been forced to beg.

Dubai Police Anti-Human Trafficking Crimes head Maj. Mansour Al Shamsi said human trafficking cases in the UAE have dropped in the last three years.

He said authorities are continually strengthening their force against human traffickers through partnerships with other police agencies from other countries such as France, Italy and the US.

Al Shamsi added that as a protocol, Dubai Police work closely with the International Criminal Police Organisation, otherwise known as the Interpol, for the solution to human trafficking.

Kuwait City Judge Waleed Al Mathkour recited an Arabic poem about human trafficking, the essence of which is that everybody is equal and so no one has the right to trample down on anyone.

These anti-human trafficking advocates are participants in the Oct. 20 to 23 ?Regional Training on International Cooperation and Effective Remedy for Victims of Trafficking in Persons? organised by the UNHROHC-DC and the DFWAC.

The goal of the workshop, held on an annual basis in a Gulf country and for the first time hosted by DFAWC, is to be able to fortify ways and means to combat human trafficking on the multi-sectoral level.

Workshop recommendations shall be forwarded to the UNHROHC-DC for review and implementation on the ground by all the governments.