UAE Announces New Shelters for Trafficking Victims

UNCLAS ABU DHABI 000071 SIPDIS FOR NEA/ARP AND G/TIP E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL KTIP KCRM AE SUBJECT: UAE Announces New Shelters for Trafficking Victims ¶1. (U) On February 6, the UAE announced it would open new shelters by mid-2010 in the northern emirates of Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) exclusively for human trafficking victims. The expansion plan comes shortly after two major sex trafficking cases appeared, one in Abu Dhabi and one in RAK. Modeled on the one-year-old Ewaa shelter in Abu Dhabi, the new shelters will be funded by the UAE Red Crescent Authority and have capacity for approximately 25-30 people. According to Ewaa executive director Sarah Shuhail, one of the goals in opening the new shelters is to raise awareness of human trafficking throughout the Emirates and identify more victims. There are currently 24 women staying at the Ewaa shelter in Abu Dhabi, which is planning its own expansion by 2012. ¶2. (U) Ewaa offers comprehensive victim protection services and rehabilitation programs --- as does the Dubai shelter run by the Dubai Foundation for Women and Children --- but in January the UAE's largest-ever human trafficking case highlighted the need for expanded shelter capacity. On January 19, seven Syrian men were convicted of human trafficking and sentenced to life in prison while six others received ten year prison terms for forcing at least 15 Moroccan women into prostitution. Once freed, the victims went to the Ewaa shelter in Abu Dhabi where Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak visited them and donated one million dirham (approximately $US 270,000) to support their rehabilitation. ¶3. (U) RAK authorities announced February 1 they had broken up a sex trafficking ring and arrested eight Bangladeshi men for forcing at least three women to work as prostitutes in the northern emirate. RAK police coordinated the arrest with Dubai police because the accused were found in two Dubai apartments. They were charged in RAK with human trafficking, abduction, adultery, sexual assault, incitement to prostitution, and residency violations. The alleged trafficking victims were not charged with any crime. OLSON