UAE: ABU DHABI POLICE COLLEGE HOSTS ANTI-TIP

UNCLAS ABU DHABI 001832 SIPDIS STATE FOR G/TIP, INL, DRL, NEA/RA, AND NEA/ARP E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM PREL TC SUBJECT: UAE: ABU DHABI POLICE COLLEGE HOSTS ANTI-TIP POLICE TRAINING SYMPOSIUM REF: A) ABU DHABI 814 B) ABU DHABI 684 ¶1. SUMMARY. The Abu Dhabi Police Officers' Training Institute, in coordination with the Police Research Center and the Office of the U/S of the Ministry of Interior (MOI),held a training symposium entitled "Combating Human Trafficking" May 24-25. Thirteen law enforcement specialists from several branches of MOI, Interpol, the UN, public prosecution, universities, and the French Government, spoke to approximately 80 UAE law enforcement officers, jurists, ministry officials, and others who follow the issue. The speakers defined the crime in legal and humanitarian terms, discussed the global magnitude of the problem, explained how trafficking surfaces in the UAE, and recommended steps to eliminate trafficking on UAE soil. Poloff attended the entire program. END SUMMARY. ¶2. In two days, the symposium covered practically every aspect of human trafficking, including forms that are not known to be problematic in the UAE, including trafficking for the purposes of illegal human organ collection. However, the key topics discussed by all presenters were trafficking of young boys to work as camel jockeys and trafficking of women and children for the purposes of sexual exploitation. While a handful of the speakers downplayed the extent of the trafficking problem in the UAE, all admitted that it does exist here and must be confronted, and offered suggestions to prevent further trafficking, prosecute traffickers and others who benefit from trafficking, and protect trafficking victims. ¶3. Septels will discuss different recommended approaches to the trafficking problem as well as recommended "next steps." The main objectives of the symposium included: -- Finding workable definitions of the many forms of human trafficking crimes, shared by all branches of government as they coordinate efforts to better combat trafficking; -- Identifying the main causes of trafficking, the different forms of trafficking, the negative effects of the crime on society at large, and the best practices to take to assist victims and prevent future incidents of trafficking; -- Publicly disseminating information about the "ugly faces" of trafficking, creating awareness among the public, the various security and law enforcement organizations, and maintaining the appropriate mechanisms to deal with the gravity of the phenomenon; -- Finding better methods to pre-empt, prevent, and protect victims, and prosecute the perpetrators through local, regional and international cooperation. ¶4. Police College administrators emphasized that this symposium was part of an ongoing plan to provide anti- trafficking in persons training to all officers enrolled in the four-year police program. Due to the transnational character of the crime, speakers and administrators stressed the importance of working with counterparts in source countries, source country embassies in the UAE, and UAE embassies in source countries. They also highlighted the need to work closely with key international governmental and non-governmental organizations to prevent trafficking at its source, before people at risk of trafficking become victims. -------------- COMMENT -------------- ¶5. The best indicator of the success of this program was the number of people who attended. As is true in many places, conference attendees in the UAE commonly attend the introductory speeches, perhaps the first few presentations, and as time passes, the number of empty seats grows. During this symposium, finding an empty seat during the last session was almost as challenging as finding one for the first. The attendees asked the speakers difficult questions and engaged in lively and substantive sideline conversations. While there were many opinions of how prevalent the problem is in the UAE and how to best approach the crime, there was universal acceptance that trafficking is un-Islamic and threatens the dignity and honor of all human beings. WAHBA