UAE effort to combat human trafficking praised

International agencies praise the UAE's efforts to crack down on human-trafficking.

ABU DHABI // International labour and human-rights organisations have praised the UAE's efforts to combat human trafficking.

The measures include a new federal law and the formation of the National Committee to Combat Human Trafficking, which will support and enforce it.

The Ministry of Labour's decision to establish an anti-human- trafficking department is a positive initiative, a seminar in the capital was told.

Organised by the ministry, the seminar was attended by senior officials from federal and local bodies, the United Nations anti-crime bureau, the International Labour Organisation, the UN High Commission for Human Rights, representatives of GCC labour ministries and academics and specialists.

The undersecretary of the Ministry of Labour, Mubarak Saeed Al Dhaheri, said: "Combating human trafficking is becoming increasingly important worldwide ... the UAE has taken an important step through enacting Law 51 of 2006 on combating human trafficking.

The National Committee to Combat Human Trafficking has been active in areas of documentation and communication with relevant international bodies and authorities and in raising public awareness to the nature and the implications of this phenomenon.

"Human trafficking is a felony as well as a social and moral scourge."