UAEG MAKING PROGRESS ON TIP ACTION PLAN, BUT DOES

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ABU DHABI 003616

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR G/TIP, INL, DRL, AND NEA/ARP

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/12/2016
TAGS: PREL PHUM KCRM AE
SUBJECT: UAEG MAKING PROGRESS ON TIP ACTION PLAN, BUT DOES
NOT FULLY GRASP THE ISSUES

Classified By: AMBASSADOR MICHELE J. SISON, REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D).


1. (C) Summary: On September 5, Ambassador and G/TIP Senior
Coordinator Mark Taylor, called on Minister of Justice
Mohammed bin Nakhira Al-Daheri and Minister of Interior
Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al-Nahyan. In separate meetings, the
ministers stated that a new, comprehensive anti-trafficking
law based on the UN anti-trafficking protocol, as well as the
UAE's ratification of the protocol itself, will be passed in
the next few months. Al-Daheri described public outreach
efforts that his ministry is making, and explained the
problem of providing statistics to support G/TIP reporting,
stating that the statistics simply don't exist in the form
that they are requested. Sheikh Saif offered that many of
the problems that G/TIP defines as trafficking are treated by
the UAEG as labor issues and are therefore not found within
the criminal case files of the Ministries of Interior and
Justice, but may be grouped with labor files at the Ministry
of Labor.


2. (C) Summary cont.: The UAEG admits that it has difficulty
in identifying trafficking victims, but doesn't perceive
there to be a significant trafficking in persons problem in
the UAE. Both ministers claimed that victims need to assume
more responsibility in reporting problems to the police.
Officials state that the UAEG remains committed to countering
trafficking issues both in the UAE as well as in
source-countries, and in order to meet these goals they would
like to pursue training opportunities with the USG. Both
meetings were attended by Jamal Al-Suweidi, Director of the
Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research (ECSSR)
and Kristiina Kangaspunta, Program Officer at the Anti-Human
Trafficking Unit of the UN Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
in conjunction with the planning of a UN Anti-Trafficking
conference to be hosted by the UAE in March 2007. End Summary.

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UAEG Progress on TIP Action Plan
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3. (C) Al-Daheri stated that a new anti-trafficking law based
on UN conventions and protocols has been drafted and should
appear before the UAE Council of Ministers as soon as it
reconvenes this fall. He also forecasted the near-term UAEG
ratification of the UN "Palermo" Protocol on Trafficking in
Persons, which will underpin the March 2007 international
conference on TIP in Abu Dhabi. He further stated that if
the law is approved prior to the November GCC meetings, the
UAE will present its anti-trafficking law as a model law for
the GCC. Sheikh Saif confirmed that he expects to see the
new law on the agenda within the first couple of Council of
Minister sessions this fall. Al-Daheri said that the new law
fully reflects the UN Anti-Trafficking Protocol, and includes
severe penalties for perpetrators of human trafficking,
including any person who is complicit in the crime. He
stated that penalties should range from seven to 15 years in
prison for each offense. (Note: Post has not seen a copy of
the draft law and cannot confirm that the law criminalizes
all forms of trafficking as defined by G/TIP. End note.)


4. (C) Minister Al-Daheri stated that the Ministry of Justice
has made it a priority to address the problems of trafficking
in persons and the treatment of foreign laborers. As one
step, the Department of Islamic Affairs (under the authority
of Minister Al-Daheri) has issued guidance for a Friday
sermon addressing the treatment of laborers. In an April
sermon script the Ministry wrote "Justice requires that we
give them (laborers) their wages. . . . It is forbidden to
have laborers work more than they can. We are not allowed to
tire and exhaust them. . . Employers must not be unjust and
not grant laborers their rights." Al-Daheri said that he has
already made arrangements for speeches to be given during
Ramadan on the treatment of laborers, and that MoJ will
sponsor a meeting during Ramadan, inviting Ministry of Labor
officials and major employers. (Note: On September 10, Amb.
spoke briefly with Minister of Labor Ali Al-Kaabi and relayed
the discussions G/TIP had with the other ministers. End note.)


5. (C) Sheikh Saif stated that the UAEG continues to work
with repatriated camel jockeys, visiting them in their home
countries to ensure that they are receiving the care and
assistance promised them, stating "we want to make sure the
job is done properly." Taylor noted that victim protection
is an important element of addressing trafficking, and
expressed hope for a permanent shelter to open soon in the
UAE. Sheikh Saif explained that the Ministry of Interior has
a network of Social Support Centers that were used in
assisting the (completed) repatriation of camel jockeys, and
continue to be used in addressing many other social problems
(mostly family violence and domestic abuse victims). He
promised to keep the shelters open in case additional jockeys

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are found, and stated that he will look into the possibility
of adapting them to assist other trafficking victims as well.

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Problems Identifying Victims,
Open Borders a Problem
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6. (C) Both ministers commented on the difficulties the UAEG
faces in identifying trafficking victims. Sheikh Saif
described the UAE as "the easiest country in the world to
travel to, making it a real problem for screening every
passenger." Noting that the UAE is at "the cross-roads" of
transportation and tourism for the Middle East, South Asia,
Africa, and Europe, he stated that the UAEG realizs that
trafficking is "a global problem" and tha the UAEG is
committed to "working hard to addres this problem both at
home as well as in the souce countries abroad." Al-Daheri
stated that whie identifying victims is difficult in any
situaton, it is even more so in the UAE. Explaining tha
the UAEG allows citizens from forty different contries to
enter the UAE without a visa, he state, "In this regard, we
have one of the most open borders in the world. With the
enormous flood of visitors that enter through our ports each
year, it is very difficult to screen them all." Taylor
offered that case-building and victim identification should
be a focus of the upcoming TIP conference.


7. (C) Ambassador requested that the UAEG be more proactive
in providing trafficking-related statistics, in order that
the TIP report might more accurately portray the trafficking
situation in the UAE. Al-Daheri responded that he and his
ministry are willing to provide any and all information that
they have available to the USG, but that any failure to do so
is "likely because we don't have that information."
Responding to the apparent dearth of trafficking arrests and
prosecutions, Sheikh Saif stated that "We will pursue any
case we have to its fullest--but we have to find the cases
first. We can't start a case without first identifying a
victim."

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Trafficking Problem, What Problem?
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8. (C) Stating that the UAEG has been working hard to address
trafficking issues, and has established an anti-trafficking
course in the police college, Sheikh Saif noted that
authorities have been unable to identify a trafficking
problem in the UAE. "Despite the additional training and
focus on trafficking, we (MoI) have only been able to
identify five or six cases of trafficking to the UAE," he
said, "and even then, the victims didn't come forward." Saif
concluded, "the UAE doesn't have a significant trafficking
problem. . .the problems you are talking about are generally
not for the police, they are primarily labor problems, and
are dealt with by the Ministry of Labor."


9. (C) Al-Daheri defended the UAEG's failure to identify
victims noting that "victims need to assume some
responsibility" in the prevention and prosecution of
trafficking. "Especially in the areas of manual and domestic
laborer abuse, authorities can only act on the information
that they have. We cannot very well go door-to-door looking
for victims." He added that source-country officials need to
take a more proactive role in educating their populations
before they travel, and notifying the UAEG of crime networks
and problems as they become aware of them, as well as
educating their own citizens. "I can't make all the
thousands of people that come here each day read all the
laws, they need to take some responsibility for themselves
and their rights," he concluded.


10. (C) Taylor pointed out that complaint-based systems are
not sufficient to identify victims, and that officials of
source-country embassies in the UAE had expressed to him a
desire for a clear, single point-of-contact in the UAEG.
Sheikh Saif responded that the UAEG is working on an
agreement that lays out domestic workers, rights and may
solve many of the labor related problems that source-country
embassies complain about. He added, "We don't see any big
problem with trafficking laborers or employees. We have
asked repeatedly for cases to illustrate the problem so that
we can identify a solution, but no one has been able to show
us a problem. Please show and identify the problem to us."


11. (C) Taylor pressed for prevention and protection
programs, suggesting establishment of a hotline, public
relations programs, flyers in languages of the potential
victims, and the need for a shelter. He added that it would
be useful to add protections for domestic servants by
including them under the labor law. Al-Daheri stated that

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the labor law is "currently undergoing significant changes.
When it is finally passed, I think that you will find many of
your concerns addressed."

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UAEG Eager for TIP Training Opportunities
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12. (C) Inquiring as to how the USG identifies trafficking
victims in the U.S., Sheikh Saif asked if MoI could send a
group of officials from the MoI Social Support Center to the
U.S. for training in order to see how USG agencies deal with
the issue. Al-Suweidi added that the Ministries of Labor and
Justice officials should accompany the Interior team for
training, a proposal to which Sheikh Saif readily agreed.


13. (C) At the MoJ meeting, Taylor pointed out that there is
no dedicated anti-trafficking unit or set procedures to
identify trafficking victims among those arrested for vice.
Al-Daheri stated that the UAEG is planning a comprehensive
training program for judges, police officers, and all those
that deal with trafficking victims. He stated that "When the
new trafficking law is passed, there will be an accompanying
training regime introduced to ensure that officials at all
levels are aware of the new law and its provisions." He then
stated that MoJ would welcome USDOJ training, and noted that
the Minister of Justice from Afghanistan was recently in the
UAE and had noted interest in training from either the USG or
UNODC.

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Other Issues
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14. (C) Noting that the UAE and USG "have enjoyed outstanding
judicial cooperation in the past, cooperating on several
issues even without a formal agreement, MoJ Under Secretary
Abdul Rahim Al-Awadi took the opportunity to mention that the
Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty(MLAT) negotiations have been
going on for some time, and that the UAEG is still awaiting a
USG response so that those talks may continue.

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Comment
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15. (C) It is frequently evident in meetings with UAE law
enforcement officials that many do not understand "human
trafficking" as it is defined by either the USG or the UN.
Sheikh Saif spoke of human trafficking in the same manner as
drug trafficking, illustrating a common perception that if it
is not the direct selling of a human being as a slave, then
it is not human trafficking, but merely a labor issue. Post
will coordinate with G/TIP to identify and establish training
programs for one or more teams from the Ministries of
Justice, Labor, and Interior. End comment.
SISON