UAE INTERIOR MINISTER TROUBLED BY TIP REPORT

C O N F I D E N T I A L ABU DHABI 000230 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR G/TIP, DRL, AND NEA/ARP E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/12/2017 TAGS: PREL PHUM ELAB KCRM KWMN SMIG AE SUBJECT: UAE INTERIOR MINISTER TROUBLED BY TIP REPORT ESTIMATES Classified By: AMBASSADOR MICHELE J. SISON, REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D) ¶1. (C) Ambassador called on Interior Minister Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al-Nahayan on February 8 and requested his assistance in preparing for the 2006 Trafficking in Persons Report. Ambassador informed him of the reporting deadlines and requested his ministry's assistance in providing statistics regarding the number of complaints, investigations, prosecutions, and convictions of traffickers, along with any actions the UAEG has taken to address the problem of human trafficking in the UAE. Saif assured Ambassador that his ministry is actively pursuing every trafficking complaint it receives and that he will cooperate with the USG in every way possible. ¶2. (C) Saif expressed consternation over the 2005 UAE TIP report, questioning how G/TIP arrived at a figure of 10,000 women involved in sex trafficking. PolOff explained the process, noting that source countries report how many women are being trafficked from their country as well as the victim's destination country, adding that these figures are also used in estimating the scope of the problem. Saif said that it seemed to him highly improbable that such a large number of women could be trafficked to the UAE each year while the Ministry of Interior received only a "handful" of complaints -- five or six -- last year. He asked that G/TIP look carefully at how it develops its estimates, and provide any information it has about human trafficking to the UAE, promising that his ministry will aggressively pursue every lead. ¶3. (C) Comment: Saif appeared to be genuinely concerned about the problem of human trafficking to the UAE, but his comments reinforce those previously made by other police officials indicating that a primary problem among UAE law enforcement is not just victim identification but problem recognition. It seems that police officials in both the Abu Dhabi and Dubai police departments, as well as the Federal Ministry, gauge the extent of trafficking by the number of self-identified victims. It is not clear if the absence of a more proactive approach to victim identification is due primarily to reticence on the part of officials (whether senior or working-level) to acknowledge the problem, especially in the culturally sensitive area of sex-trafficking, or to a genuine belief that the problem is not significant enough to merit additional action. End Comment. SISON