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