Ambassador Obaid Salem Al Zaabi, Permanent Representative of the United Arab Emirates to the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva, delivered a keynote speech, in which he stressed that human trafficking is a major challenge for the international community, with significant impact on human conditions and armed conflicts.

HE Al Zaabi noted that the UAE, as the sponsor of the Oslo Conference, the only conference focusing on prevention of human trafficking, will work with its partners on sustaining and enforcing the findings of the Oslo Conference.

In this regard, HE Al Zaabi added that the Workshop is one of various events that will be held this year to build up a new impetus towards combatting human trafficking.

He declared to the round-table participants that the UAE and its partners are planning a follow-up meeting in 2020 on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly to assess progress in responding to human trafficking during humanitarian crises.

Al Zaabi also highlighted the UAE’s exemplary experience in this field, stressing that protection and empowerment of women is a cornerstone of the UAE’s foreign aid policy. According to Al Zaabi, the UAE has launched a 100% women’s empowerment policy, aimed at ensuring 100% gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls, in the UAE’s bilateral and multilateral foreign aid programs by 2021. (Al Ittihad)