Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery - United Arab Emerites (UAE)

Human Trafficking in  [United Arab Emirates]  [other countries]

Street Children in  [United Arab Emirates]  [other countries]

Child Prostitution in  [United Arab Emirates]  [other countries]

Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery

In the first ten years of the 21^st Century - 2000 to 2009

United Arab Emirates (UAE)

The UAE has an open economy with a high per capita income and a sizable annual trade surplus. Successful efforts at economic diversification have reduced the portion of GDP based on oil and gas output to 25%. Since the discovery of oil in the UAE more than 30 years ago, the UAE has undergone a profound transformation from an impoverished region of small desert principalities to a modern state with a high standard of living. The government has increased spending on job creation and infrastructure expansion and is opening up utilities to greater private sector involvement. Dependence on oil and a large expatriate workforce are significant long-term challenges.

The UAE's strategic plan for the next few years focuses on diversification and creating more opportunities for nationals through improved education and increased private sector employment. [The World Factbook, U.S.C.I.A. 2009]

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a destination for men and women, predominantly from South and Southeast Asia, trafficked for the purposes of labor and commercial sexual exploitation. Migrant workers, who comprise more than 90 percent of the UAE’s private sector workforce, are recruited from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, China, and the Philippines. Women from some of these countries travel willingly to work as domestic servants or administrative staff, but some are subjected to conditions indicative of forced labor, including unlawful withholding of passports, restrictions on movement, non-payment of wages, threats, or physical or sexual abuse. Trafficking of domestic workers is facilitated by the fact that the normal protections provided to workers under UAE labor law do not apply to domestic workers, leaving them more vulnerable to abuse. Similarly, men from India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Pakistan are drawn to the UAE for work in the construction sector, but are often subjected to conditions of involuntary servitude and debt bondage. - U.S. State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report, June, 2009 [full country report]

CAUTION: The following links have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in the United Arab Emirates. Some of these links may lead to websites that present allegations that are unsubstantiated or even false. No attempt has been made to verify their authenticity or to validate their content.

*** FEATURED ARTICLES ***

Migrant Women in the United Arab Emirates - The case of female domestic workers [PDF]

www.ilo.org/public/english/employment/gems/download/swmuae.pdf

At one time this article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]

[page 18] 3.1. GENERAL CONDITIONS - Isolation is a dominant feature of foreign female domestic worker work environment in the United Arab Emirates. Foreign female domestic workers are isolated physically, psychologically, socially, culturally and in all aspects of human existence. However, they differ in their level of isolation. Some foreign female domestic workers live in an abusive environment of isolation. Others are able to interact socially and break through some of the physical and psychological barriers they face.

Legally, once a foreign female domestic worker enters her employer’s house, she is totally under his/her control, since the employer is usually her visa sponsor. Even today, United Arab Emirates labour laws do not recognize domestics as part of the labour force. The employer bears total responsibility for his/her domestic workers and has total control over them. However, during the first three months of the contract, both the employer and the employee have the right to contact the recruiting agency in order to report problems or to seek change in the status or employment of the foreign female domestic worker. Most recruiting agencies, however, do not encourage this practice, and often hide information from the foreign female domestic worker about their rights. The immigration regulations governing the status of domestic workers and the social practices towards foreign female domestic worker in the United Arab Emirates enslave them to their employers until the duration of their contract ends. Whether one is placed with a desirable or an undesirable employer is a matter of luck.

Woman jailed for forcing child into sex trade

Last week a non-governmental organisation said there was a growing trend in the abduction and sale of Tajik boys for sexual exploitation abroad. The Modar organisation said groups in the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Pakistan and other countries were prepared to pay as much as $70 000 for a Tajik boy between the ages of 10 and 12.

*** ARCHIVES ***

Bur of Democracy, Human Rights & Labor - Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2005

TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS – The government made significant progress toward eliminating the practice of trafficking in young foreign boys as camel jockeys, which until March had been a serious problem for many years. On July 5, President Khalifa promulgated a federal law that prohibits persons below age 18 from participating in camel races and subjects violators to imprisonment and financial penalties. The government also worked with UNICEF, source country embassies, and NGOs to rescue, rehabilitate, and repatriate approximately 1,034 children who had worked as camel jockeys. By year's end, an additional 39 children were in the remaining rehabilitation shelter awaiting repatriation.

During the year, there were a number of media reports of trafficking in women and girls into the country, especially to Dubai, for sexual exploitation. Observers believed that trafficking activity was conducted with the complicity of some of the women's citizen sponsors and by non-citizen traffickers.

Law enforcement, particularly in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, investigated reports of trafficking in women for prostitution. In 2004 and during the year, Dubai police closed 39 hotels in Dubai and several massage parlors and night clubs suspected of exploiting women for prostitution. Unlike in previous years, instead of summarily deporting women arrested for prostitution, the Human Rights Care Department housed in hotels all women who were victims of and could provide evidence about trafficking, until they could testify in trials against the traffickers. Victims who were unable to provide evidence were also assisted until they had acquired travel documents to return home.

Bur of Democracy, Human Rights & Labor - Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2004

TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS – There was an increasing number of media reports during the year of trafficking in women and girls to the country, especially to Dubai, for the purposes of sexual exploitation, although the Government pledged and took some measures to eliminate this practice. It was unknown whether these measures were effective. Often, women were brought into the country with false job offers in the hotel or medical sectors or as domestic servants, but upon arrival they were forced into prostitution. The traffickers, who almost always were citizens of the victims' home countries, reportedly seized their passports and forced them to work as prostitutes to repay their travel and living expenses, which quickly became unmanageable. However, the women received little or no payment for their work, which made it difficult or impossible to repay their debts. There were reports that traffickers commonly "sold" their victims to other traffickers, and the new traffickers held victims responsible for paying off the new, higher debt.

In July 2003, the Government banned the widespread practice of sponsors forcing workers to surrender their passports as a condition of employment. However, the practice reportedly continued to be widespread.

Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) - 2002

[40] Despite noting some efforts by the State party, the Committee is seriously concerned at the hazardous situation of children involved in camel racing. In particular it is concerned that: sometimes very young children are involved; are trafficked, particularly from Africa and South Asia; are denied education and healthcare; and that such involvement produces serious injuries, even fatalities. It concurs with the ILO Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations which has previously indicated to the State party that the employment of children as camel jockeys constitutes dangerous work under article 3(1) of ILO Convention no. 138, concerning the minimum age for admission to employment.

UAE anti-trafficking report documents progress

www.albawaba.com/en/countries/UAE/246975

The annual report, “Combatting Human Trafficking in the UAE – 2008-09", highlights the country’s stand on the crime, efforts to counter it, progress made, obstacles encountered, and plans for the future. According to the report, over 20 cases were registered last year, as opposed to 10 cases in 2007. "This represents an 100 percent increase in registered cases compared to 2007, suggesting that the combating process is gradually, but surely, intensifying," the report said. The number of prosecutions and the severity of punishments prescribed by the UAE courts also increased significantly, the report said, adding that there were convictions in six cases, with two people receiving life sentence.

According to Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Dr Anwar Gargash, “The UAE firmly stands against both the exploitation of human beings. The resolve to fight trafficking at home and abroad in collaboration with international partners remains central to the country's anti-trafficking strategy.” Dr. Gargash, who is also the chairman of the anti-trafficking committee, said “The UAE will continue to take a lead on this issue in the region and internationally, acknowledging the existence of human trafficking as a problem that afflicts our society, just as it does in many other countries."

Human trafficking gang busted, girl recovered

www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=179371

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Sunday busted an international human trafficking gang and recovered a girl sold to an Arab Sheikh for Rs2 million. The officials of the FIA Peshawar were tipped off that a gang would smuggle a young girl of Lala Killay to Dubai where she had been sold to …

US Report on Human Trafficking in UAE a Lie

www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=/data/theuae/2009/May/theuae_May148.xml&section=theuae

Dr Mohammed Anwar Gargash, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and Chairman of the National Committee to Combat Human Trafficking, has dismissed a US State Department report that the UAE has around 10,000 victims of human trafficking as a mere lie. Speaking at the Federal National Council (FNC) session on Tuesday, the minister said the report has political motivation and is a reflection of the political philosophy of the US State Department.

Woman jailed for forcing child into sex trade

Last week a non-governmental organisation said there was a growing trend in the abduction and sale of Tajik boys for sexual exploitation abroad. The Modar organisation said groups in the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Pakistan and other countries were prepared to pay as much as $70 000 for a Tajik boy between the ages of 10 and 12.

Testimony of Alina

actioncenter.polarisproject.org/the-frontlines/survivor-testimonies/38-testimonies/54-testimony-of-alina

"I met my boyfriend at my girl-friend’s house. He had been dating me for a month already when he told me he was going to marry me. My boyfriend told me we could earn some money for our wedding if we went to work in Greece at his friend’s company.

We would stay for three months there to earn enough money and come back. I was extremely happy. I could not believe all that was happening to me. He took my passport and all necessary papers and said that he would take care of visa and travel arrangements. I was so happy and careless that I did not even ask to see the tickets or documents. The day of departure came. We took the plane and instead of Greece we landed in Dubai.

He took me to a hotel and said that he was going to see his friend and would be back soon. Two hours later a man came to take me to another hotel saying that I was his property. I could not understand, I kept saying that it was a misunderstanding and that my friend would come soon. I had come to Dubai for another purpose. The man told me that my friend had sold me to him, that from now on he would have my documents and I had to do whatever he told me to. He said that the next day I had to move to another place and serve all the clients he would send to me.

Three on traficking charges

www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090309/NATIONAL/170892145/-1/NEWS

Police have arrested three men of Eastern European origin on charges of human trafficking and forcing women into prostitution. They lured women from their own countries to the UAE with the promise of jobs in the hospitality or retail sector, but instead held them prisoners as prostitutes in brothels in Deira, planning to sell them on for Dh5,000 (US$1,360), a Criminal Investigation Department (CID) source said. The gang threatened to kill them if they talked, police added.

Human Trafficking from Bangladesh Drops Drastically

www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=/data/theuae/2008/December/theuae_December508.xml&section=theuae

Incidents of human trafficking and children being employed as camel jockeys have dropped to low levels, according to figures from the Bangladesh mission here. Embassy deputy head Shaid Bakheiyar Alam said more than 200 camel jockeys were repatriated between 2006-2007 while this year only 10 cases were registered. The official attributed the drop in incidents to the efforts of the UAE government, Unicef and the mission here.

EFFORTS TO COMBAT THE MENACE - Mostly children are lured with good life and quality education promises while for the women it is for brighter prospects. The establishment of the National Committee for combating human trafficking in accordance with the federal law is a bright spot in the record of the UAE which is considered a forerunner in the field of human rights.

A study conducted by the Abu Dhabi police said as many as 10,000 human trafficking cases were registered in 2008 in the UAE, which include camel jockeys and women forced into prostitution. The UAE returned more than 1,000 children employed as camel jockeys to their countries of origin in a co-ordinated effort with Unicef, and is also involved in programmes to rehabilitate them.

Police sting nets human traffickers

www.thenational.ae/article/20081215/NATIONAL/818203618/1138

Police said they had dismantled a network which lured women from their home countries with promises of legitimate work, only to force them into prostitution. The gang also preyed on women who had absconded from sponsors in Dubai, kidnapping them and forcing them into the sex trade or selling them to the highest bidders.

The woman was lured to the UAE to work legally as a maid by one of the gang members, the police said. She was kidnapped on arrival, imprisoned and forced into prostitution while the gang waited to trade her to anyone who would meet their asking price. It is unclear whether the woman would remain here or be sent back to Bangladesh.

Three women accuse owner of the City of Hope of selling their babies

www.gulfnews.com/nation/Society/10214471.html

Three young women of different nationalities are accusing the owner of the City of Hope shelter, Sharla Musabih, of selling their new-born babies to families in the UAE.

Stiff penalties to combat crime

www.gulfnews.com/nation/Police_and_The_Courts/10204383.html

Ten human trafficking cases have been reported in the UAE, five of them are cases in which verdicts have been issued, while others are still with the judicial authorities, a senior official said.

Major General Khamis Mattar Al Mazeina, Dubai Police's Deputy Commandant General, said eight of the cases were in Dubai. He said there are no Emiratis or Arabs involved in those cases. He pointed out that the number of cases is not a phenomenon at all compared to other countries where such crimes are common.

Trafficking tough to tame in rich Gulf states

www.reuters.com/article/idUSL2090616420080224

africa.reuters.com/world/news/usnL20906164.html

BROKEN PROMISES - Aysha's case puts a face on the figures. She was sitting outside her home in Uzbekistan when she was approached by a woman who showed her pictures of Dubai and promised her a job as a waitress. When she and her cousin arrived in Dubai, their hair was cut, their eyebrows plucked and they were given skimpy clothes to wear. They were locked up in an apartment with four other girls who were made to work as prostitutes. On day two, Aysha and her cousin escaped from the disco when their boss had to go out on an urgent errand. They flagged down a taxi, but the only English word they knew was airport. They lived in the airport toilets for two days before being found and sent to the Uzbek consulate, which sent them to the shelter. "The other girls wanted to run away too but they were too afraid. I think they tried before but were caught," Aysha said.

Trafficking victims find support and solace

archive.gulfnews.com/articles/07/12/29/10178071.html

Providing legal and psychological support to the women and children who fall prey to human traffickers are the goals of a section that was established lately by Dubai Police. The section that takes care of human trafficking victims at Dubai Police's Human Rights Care Department was established this year.

LURE OF JOBS - Most of the cases the section receives are related to women who are promised jobs here as nurses or air hostesses. After they come here, someone from their own nationality receives them at the airport and takes their passports. After that, the women are taken to hotels and forced into prostitution. Some manage to escape and contact the section through police stations, while others suffer mental torture.

Dubai declares war on human trafficking - Atul Aneja

www.hindu.com/2007/12/06/stories/2007120652521500.htm

Launching a new drive against human trafficking, authorities in Dubai have busted a well entrenched prostitution ring operating from upscale villas and apartments. The Dubai police have arrested 247 suspects, including 170 sex workers after raiding 22 locations on December 1, said Dubai police chief Lt. Gen. Dahi Khalfan Tamim. Most of the sex workers were from East Asia.

Earlier this year, UAE Attorney-General Eassam Al-Humaidan had announced that a decision had been taken to confront human traffickers with an iron hand. He said practitioners would face a five-year jail sentence. Besides, anyone convicted of forming a gang for this purpose would be jailed for life.

Human Rights Watch questions Guggenheim museum labor

www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/11/14/america/NA-GEN-US-Guggenheim-Arab-Labor.php

At one time this article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]

"Our laws are tougher than anyone else's in the Mideast," Al Kaabi said at the time. "But the lack of inspectors means sometimes we don't see these problems."

The United Arab Emirates already has issued laws addressing many of the abuses in the Human Rights Watch report: workers' salaries and passports held back by companies, dangerous working conditions, shady labor agents whose fees keep workers locked in debt and labor law enforcers beholden to connected companies, not to workers.

The United Arab Emirates' ruler, Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, also announced tough penalties, up to life imprisonment, against trafficking in humans, which has illegally taken domestic servants, prostitutes and even child camel race jockeys into the country.

Whitson called the changes "cosmetic" and said the problem needed to be addressed systemically.

Dubai's Promised Land of Luxury Lures Women Into Sexual Slavery

www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=amKSCFA_Fm3s&refer=home

Fei Fei, a 22-year-old from China's Guangdong province, has a souvenir of her eight months in Dubai: burns on her back and arms from cigarette butts crushed against her skin when she refused to work as a prostitute. She eventually submitted when a criminal gang threatened to send nude photos of her to family members. That indignity, she said, would have been worse than selling her body. ``They take pictures of me naked in shower,'' Fei Fei said in broken English as she pulled up her shirt to reveal the dark red circular marks. Soon afterward, she adopted the English name ``Lucy,'' and sold sex in Dubai bars for 500 dirhams ($130) a trick to claw back her freedom.

Fight human trafficking

archive.gulfnews.com/articles/07/10/31/10163908.html

ABJECT SLAVERY - The need of the hour is not a blame game played out by certain media entities and individuals who claim the moral high ground but of adopting a sensitive awareness to stop unscrupulous traders in their tracks.

Groups and individuals need to synergise to help reluctant victims shed inhibitions and expose their tormentors. This can be achieved not only through empowerment of non governmental organisations but also by enlisting the help of taxi drivers to expose the city's vice dens.

It is also important to be aware of the extent we end up practising such acts, unknowingly, by imposing unreasonable hours and endless work loads on our household helpers.

Fight against human trafficking stepped up

archive.gulfnews.com/articles/07/10/24/10162297.html

PREVENTIVE MEASURES - The chief public prosecutor Mansour Abdullah who questioned the suspects said: "The victims worked as housemaids before they abandoned their sponsor. "They met S.F. who promised to hire them and kept them in a flat. An unidentified suspect [who is still at large] aided S.F. to confine the girls in the flat and forced them to have sex with customers." Abdullah said they beat and tortured the girls every time they refused to have sex with customers.

[Editor’s note: the suspects who were charged were Asian]

From the arc lights of Vadapalani to dance bars of Dubai and back

www.hindu.com/2007/08/24/stories/2007082459750300.htm

Meenakshi was once a bubbly girl who worked in the film studios of Chennai. After finishing her eighth year in school, she followed in her father’s footsteps and become a junior artist in films. Beautiful and fair, Meenakshi received a lot of attention on the sets. Meenakshi had befriended two middle-aged female dancers who had told her she could go to Dubai and earn a lot of money as a dancer. They had also told her she could meet filmmakers there whom she could impress with her dancing. Persuaded by them, Meenakshi, her eyes filled with dreams, set off for Dubai. Less than two months later, she returned in a wheel chair, a mere shadow of the woman she was and unable to tell anyone what had happened to her.

Dubai - Justice was done

muhtc.blogspot.com/

www.7days.ae/showstory.php?id=54276

Dubai's top prosecutor has hailed 15-year prison sentences handed yesterday to a couple for human trafficking - the first ever convictions for the crime in the UAE. The two Indians bought their female victim for just dhs4,300 and forced her into prostitution before attempting to sell her on.

Two plead innocent to human trafficking charges

archive.gulfnews.com/articles/07/07/06/10137176.html

A housemaid and a driver are pleading innocent against the human trafficking of an Indonesian female even though they were caught red-handed trying to sell her to a policeman.

"The Indians then sold me for Dh4,300 to T.S. and M.K. who forced me into prostitution," she said in her statement. They used to pocket the sex customer's money for themselves and the 29-year-old used 'to beat and abuse me', she alleged.

Meanwhile, the Public Prosecution is currently looking into the third case of its kind. Two Indians suspects are believed to have sold two housemaids, a 23-year-old Bangladeshi and a 33-year-old Indonesian, for Dh9,000 and were forcing them into prostitution.

Human trafficking from Armenia to Dubai, UAE

www.mideastyouth.com/2007/06/19/human-trafficking-from-armenia-to-dubai-uae/

when she arrived in Abu Dhabi she was taken to a brothel where a pimp told her that he had bought her for $7000. From that moment on she was to work as a prostitute until she paid off her so-called debt. After three months of captivity, Tanya managed to escape. She bolted to a police station and recounted her story. Incredibly, she was charged with prostitution and sentenced to three years in a desert prison. In 2001, psychologically crushed and ashamed, Tanya was released. Nothing happened to her pimp. Branded a prostitute by the Muslim nation, she was summarily deported back to her Ukraine.

Private sector 'can help combat human trafficking'

archive.gulfnews.com/articles/07/06/05/10130140.html

He said T.S. and M.K. used the victim's poverty to subjugate and exploit her into working in the sex industry unwillingly. "The couple bought her from an unidentified person for Dh4,300 after she reportedly abandoned her sponsor. When she refused to have sex with customers, she got brutally beaten by the female suspect," said the Attorney General.

New study shames human traffickers

www.eastandard.net/archives/cl/hm_news/news.php?articleid=1143968455

At one time this article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]

Countries in the Middle East have been named as the worst culprits of human trafficking.

A new report by an international trade unions’ umbrella organisation says Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen are notorious destinations for women trafficked from Kenya.

Its report, ‘Trafficking in Persons — The Eastern Africa Situation’, notes that women and children were favourite targets for well-organised trafficking rings, which operate freely for lack of solid laws against the vice.

Stress on global network to fight human trafficking

archive.gulfnews.com/articles/07/03/11/10110364.html

A teacher in her home country, Noora says she was tempted by the promise of a good job and salary in Dubai. It was the first time that she had ever left her home country and her job and visa were arranged by a man she was put in contact with by a friend from her home town.

In her early 20's at the time, Noora was told to expect a representative from the school where she was to work to collect her from the airport. Instead, she was met by a couple who took her to their home in Sharjah and locked her inside a room in a high-rise.

"The first couple of days were a blur. I kept asking when I was starting my job. The wife laughed and said there is no school - that I had to work as a prostitute," she remembers. "I was terrified and couldn't do anything. I was powerless."

Trafficking – Serious Problem for Azerbaijan

www.demaz.org/cgi-bin/e-cms/vis/vis.pl?s=001&p=0056&n=001094&g=

At one time this article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]

Victim of human trafficking told how she found herself within the net of criminal elements - Rafiga understood that she was deceived. But as her neighbor had her passport she tried to persuade “mama Rosa” to give back her document. However, woman told that Rafiga is her debtor as her marriage and ticket purchase were very expensive. “I will return your passport when you work a debt out, and you will be free”, “mama Rosa told”.

UAE : Probe begins into Indian Human Trafficking Racket

www.daijiworld.com/news/news_disp.asp?n_id=29570&n_tit=UAE+%3A+Probe+begins+into+Indian+Human+Trafficking+Racket

The 54 year-old visitor identified as A.K.S, 50, and his wife identified as M.S, were waiting for a connecting flight to Paris when they were arrested. They were reportedly carrying fake passports of two young boys accompanying them.

The data recorded in the passports of the two minors showed them to be the sons of the accused but upon questioning, the couple denied being the parents, claiming they had been asked by some people in Mumbai to hand over the children to someone in Paris.

Dahi: Tough law will help fight all other forms of trafficking

archive.gulfnews.com/articles/06/11/11/10081810.html

He warned that thousands of people in the country could be traffickers without them knowing it. "They are not aware that the way they treat their domestic servants such as denying them communication with others, toying with their salaries, as well as the illegal tricks employed by labour companies constitute servitude."

Life term for human trafficking under new federal law

www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/theuae/2006/July/theuae_July355.xml&section=theuae

The Ministerial Legislative Committee (MLC) here approved yesterday an anti-human trafficking federal draft law. A life-imprisonment term is to be slapped against anyone implicated in any of the crimes of human trafficking, such as sexual exploitation, forced labour, slavery, or any malpractices of the kind, the draft law stipulates.

Kyrgyz Police Halt Flight To U.A.E. On Trafficking Suspicion

www.hri.org/news/balkans/rferl/2006/06-02-16.rferl.html#21

One, a resident of Samarkand, said that she was traveling to work in a restaurant in Dubai. But another woman, a 17-year-old from Ferghana, said that she was going to the U.A.E. to work as a prostitute. The woman cited a lack of alternative employment opportunities in Uzbekistan as the reasons for her decision.

Country Reports - Turkmenistan

iwraw.igc.org/publications/countries/turkmenistan.htm

At one time this article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]

ARTICLE 6 - TRAFFICKING AND PROSTITUTION [40] - “Because getting out of Turkmenistan is difficult,” she said, “I allowed myself to be smuggled out of here via Iran, but I was told I would have a good job working for an Arab family in Dubai.” After an arduous road journey across Iran and a Gulf crossing by boat, she found herself working in a Russian syndicate-run brothel in Dubai. “It was horrific. I worked all night, every night, for six days, and was beaten if I refused to perform,” she added tearfully. “I know I was stupid,” she added, “but there’s nothing, nothing, nothing for us here.”

Kidnapped Children Starve As Camel Jockey Slaves

www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-1543325,00.html

As many as 5,000 children, some as young as two, have been kidnapped or bought from their parents in the Indian sub-continent and Africa as part of a quest by camel trainers to gain the edge over their racing rivals.

Camel Jockeys Trying To Recover Lost Childhood

www.dawn.com/2005/05/10/int14.htm

Both the UAE and Qatar have talked about plans to use “robots” for camel jockeys, operated by remote control. They say the technology has been tried and tested, but locals involved in the sport doubt it will be popular or practical. “These children have lost their childhood, they are living in hell,” he said, describing starvation to keep the boys light weight to race faster, long hours and sometimes sexual abuse. He said the shelter was paradise but doubted police were able to locate most children’s parents. “These boys should get compensation,” he said, adding he had found one as young as three.

Child camel jockeys find hope

newswww.bbc.net.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4236123.stm

Children from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sudan are still being smuggled to the United Arab Emirates to work as camel jockeys, despite a law passed two years ago banning their use. It is not uncommon for child jockeys to fall off and be injured while racing, and their illegal status means race track owners are often reluctant to take them to hospital. Instead, says Ansar Burney, the boys often arrive with broken hands or broken legs. And many, he says, have been sodomised.

Missing Girl Rescued By A Journalist

www.asiansexgazette.com/asg/middle_east/middleeast02news25.htm

“They forced me into prostitution,” Priya said after she was rescued, according to a friend. “I was beaten up several times and finally had to give in to their demands. We were being shifted to a different flat every two days. The customers used to pay dhs50, which the agents used to collect. It was a real hell out there.”

Free Democracy

freedemocracy.blogspot.com/2006_02_01_archive.html#114068413222349497

UAE : HORRENDOUS RECORD OF CHILD SLAVERY - WORK WORRIES - Sri Lankan women are trafficked to Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar, mainly as sex workers or for forced labor.

Freedom House Country Report - Political Rights: 6 Civil Liberties: 5 Status: Not Free

Human Rights Overview by Human Rights Watch – Defending Human Rights Worldwide

U.S. Library of Congress - Country Study

Slavery of Children and women in Persian gulf countries

www.iranian.ws/cgi-bin/iran_news/exec/view.cgi/2/2675

At one time this article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]

One of the fastest growing means by which children are enslaved today is trafficking. Girls as young as six are trafficked to work as maids in UAE and Saudi Arabia. Men and women and children live and work as slaves or in slave-like conditions. The sexual enslavement of children is part of the generation exploitation of children in impoverished parts of the world.

Corruption is Limiting Kazakhstan’s Efforts Against Human Trafficking

stopvaw.org/3Jun2004.html

At one time this article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]

Most citizens of Kazakhstan who fall victim to human trafficking are sent to the United Arab Emirates, though some have been sent to western Europe, Israel. And Saudi Arabia.

Human trafficking from Iran to Gulf Shiekhdoms

activistchat.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2551

A group of Iranian boys and girls will be sold in an auction today in Fojeyreh, United Arab Emirates. At a round table discussion on human trafficking held yesterday (at the office of) the Young Iranian Society news agency, it was announced that the preparations for this auction were made two weeks before by hunters of Iranian women and girls in the course of an international exhibition…

The human hunters were able to choose 54 Iranian girls out of the 286 that were put on show in an Arab country's booth. They were then sent to a Persian Gulf country on May 17 to get ready for the Fojeyreh auction on May 26….

Leader of Tajik prostitution ring jailed for selling young women to Emirates

eforums.healthdev.org/read/messages?id=553

The leader of a prostitution ring in Tajikistan has been jailed for three-and-a-half years for sending young women to the United Arab Emirates to work forcibly in the sex trade, the trial judge told AFP Monday. Anvar Rakhmatov was arrested in October last year in the north of this impoverished former Soviet Central Asian republic as he was about to put three young women on a flight to Dubai.

"Over the last four years, this criminal group transported young women to the United Arab Emirates, and upon their arrival, took their passports and forced them to work as prostitutes," the judge said.

'Modern-Day Slavery' Prompts Rescue Efforts

www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61457-2004May2_4.html

Halla forbade Muka from bathing because "she did not want my germs in the shower," Muka wrote. Halla often slapped her and kicked her while wearing boots and shoes. Once, Halla noticed a scratch on the baby's nose. "She pulled a knife out of the drawer and demonstrated pulling the knife across her throat as if to slice it," Muka wrote. "While she was doing this, she looked at me and said that if a scratch occurred again, she would kill me." Halla confiscated her passport and told her "bad people" would hurt her if she ever left, according to Muka's statement. Muka said she imagined government officials tracking her down.

Department of Homeland Security immigration officials were able to track the diplomat, but he had returned to the United Arab Emirates.

As Many As 27 Million Worldwide Forced into Slavery

www.feminist.org/news/newsbyte/uswirestory.asp?id=6576

A Britain-based nongovernmental organization, Anti-Slavery International, released a report Monday showing that the number of people forced into slavery has risen to an estimated 27 million.

In addition, the report showed the trafficking of boys between to the United Arab Emirates and other Gulf States, continued slavery in Brazil, and inaction to free slaves in Mauritania.

Police officer arrested in connection with human trafficking

archive.hetq.am/eng/society/h-0304-traff.html

At one time this article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]

Officers continue to question women who fell victim to these two procurers. The number of Amalia Mnatsakanyan's victims keeps growing. But the trafficking in women for the United Arab Emirates continues.

Trafficking and forced labour of children in the United Arab Emirates continues

www.mengos.net/events/04newsevents/omanqataruaemain/children-trafficked.htm

At one time this article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]

ANTI-SLAVERY INTERNATIONAL CLAIMS UAE STILL USES CHILD SLAVES AS CAMEL JOCKEYS - In 2004, Anti-Slavery International sent a photographer to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to photograph children racing and training in the Gulf state. The photographs prove that, despite the Government's repeated statements that this practice has stopped, it is still a problem. Two years ago, the Government announced that using children under 15 and lighter than 45 kilograms to race camels would be banned from 1 September 2002 and offenders punished.

Two Cases of Trafficking to the Emirates

www.bu.edu/globalbeat/ARMENIA/arpine.html

“My friend Armenuhi deceived me” says Narine. “She promised me a well-paid job in the United Arab Emirates. So I went. Once I got there she took my passport and forced me into prostitution to make money for her.”

Armenuhi's brother drove Narine to the airport, and Armenhui met Narine when she landed in the Emirates. she immediately took her passport. Then her attitude changed dramatically. “She told me that I had to work as a prostitute or else I could stay there and rot,” says Narine. “She said I had to give her $10,000 to get my passport back.

Saudi Arabia/GCC States: Ratify Migrant Rights Treaty!

hrw.org/english/docs/2003/04/11/saudia5596.htm

Saudi Arabia and the other GCC states have a special responsibility to participate in all international efforts to guarantee rights and justice for this vulnerable population. Becoming parties to the migrant rights convention will signal the GCC’s willingness to help address a serious worldwide problem.

Dubai: Migrant Workers at Risk

hrw.org/english/docs/2003/09/19/uae6388.htm

Nearly ten million foreigners, most of them unskilled or semi-skilled migrants, work in Gulf states. Migrants comprise some 90 percent of the 1.7 million workers in the United Arab Emirates, where the World Bank will hold its meetings.

Despite their value to both their home countries and the societies in which they work, many migrant workers suffer from discrimination, exploitation and abuse. Migrants, including large numbers of women employed as domestic servants, face intimidation and violence, including sexual assault, at the hands of employers, supervisors, sponsors and police and security forces. Children are especially vulnerable to labor and sexual exploitation and denial of basic rights.

"Thousands of children are trafficked to the United Arab Emirates for use as beggars and camel jockeys," Mungoven said. "The World Bank can't claim to fight child labor in poor countries and then turn a blind eye when it crosses borders."

Sponsors and employers often confiscate migrants' documents, including passports and residence permits, restricting their freedom of movement and ability to report mistreatment. Migrants in the Gulf states typically can't obtain an exit visa without the approval of their sponsor or employer, sometimes placing them in situations that amount to forced labor.

Sexual Exploitation of Children on the Rise

www.penelopes.org/Anglais/xbreve.php3?id_article=469

At one time this article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]

Boys, sometimes as young as 5, are sent each year from Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan to Dubai and the United Arab Emirates to serve as jockeys in camel races.

Miller Addresses Modern Day Slavery

www.thehoya.com/node/4151

According to Miller, the publication of a report ranking nations based on violations of human rights spurred progress in the battle against modern day slavery. The Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons reports that the United Arab Emirates, ranked as having one of the worst records of human rights violations, instituted border controls, prosecutions and heightened protections for victims as a result of the report.

Business Is Booming for Slave Trade

abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=79131&page=1

When Ibrahim Mohammad, now around 6 years old, fell off a camel in Dubai and fractured his shoulder last year, he says he broke into a sobbing fit and pleaded with his handlers not to strap him onto the back of a camel ever again. But as he well knew, no amount of sniveling, whining or weeping could save him from the camel-racing track. There was a lot of money at stake, there were no adults who would intercede for him, and the skinny little Bangladeshi boy was just pushing his luck. As a camel jockey in the United Arab Emirates' glitzy port city, Ibrahim was just a tiny cog in a vast, popular sports industry, and like the other 20-odd boys in his dormitory, he was a child slave. Protests were treated with a sound whipping with the sticks used for the camels, and then it was back to the races for the tiny lads.

Migrant Women in the United Arab Emirates - The case of female domestic workers [PDF]

www.ilo.org/public/english/employment/gems/download/swmuae.pdf

At one time this article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]

Statement by Mrs. Narcisa Escaler, Deputy Director General International Organization for Migration (IOM) at the United States - European Union Transatlantic Seminar to Prevent Trafficking in Women

www.brama.com/issues/IOM980709_lviv.html

TRAFFICKING IN WOMEN - . Tatyana is 20 years old. She is from a small town in Lugansk oblast in Eastern Ukraine. It is impossible for her to get a job there, because most industrial facilities in town are idle. A friend of her mother proposed her a housemaid job for a rich family in the United Arab Emirates. She was promised a $4,000 monthly income there, while at home she could not find a job that paid even a tiny fraction of that amount. However, when she arrived in the UAE, she was stripped of her passport, sold to a brothel and forced to receive clients in order to repay the fees she supposedly owed to the owner, who bought her for $7,000. Her nightmare did not end even after she managed to escape: she was sentenced to three years' imprisonment for working in an underground brothel after she turned to the police for help. Now Tatyana is eleven months into her sentence. Her mother, who calls an IOM-sponsored telephone hotline periodically, is crying for help.

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Cite this webpage as: Patt, Prof. Martin, "Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery – United Arab Emirates (UAE)", http://gvnet.com/humantrafficking/UnitedArabEmirates.htm, [accessed <date>]

Human Trafficking in  [United Arab Emirates]  [other countries]

Street Children in  [United Arab Emirates]  [other countries]

Child Prostitution in  [United Arab Emirates]  [other countries]