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Combating Trafficking Anywhere

Please contact Attorney John Q. Kelly with any information on Natalee Hollaway’s whereabouts
 http://kellygrouppc.com/

“The victims of modern slavery have many faces. They are men and women, adults and children”
- President Obama

“I hope that Sojourner Truth would be proud to see me, a descendant of slaves, serving as the first lady of the United States of America.”

   http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/07/20097308334579616.html                     More than one million people, the majority of them women and children, are smuggled across international borders to work in near slavery every year, the US state department says.
Its 2009 Trafficking in Persons Report lists more than 170 countries which it claims are not doing enough to tackle the problem. Al Jazeera met "Svetlana", a Uzbek forced to work in the sex trade in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. She recounted how she was offered a job as a waitress, but the woman who had originally promised to help her in Tashkent took away her passport and threatened to harm her family if she did not co-operate.  After years of abuse, "Svetlana" has found refuge at the United Arab Emirates' first shelter for the victims of human trafficking.  Staff at the Abu Dhabi Shelter for Women and Children say that although her story is common, there is too little awareness of the situation.

Please view:  www.uaelawdirectory.com for further details from the UAE.

The Foundation for Women and Children -Shelter for victims of human trafficking in the UAE pictured above

ON A POSITIVE NOTE:  CTA does recognize that the UAE Government is trying to take the right first steps,........as outlined below:

Jan 16, 2010 - 01:55 -

WAM Abu Dhabi, Jan 16th, 2010 (WAM) -- Colonel Ahmed Mohammed Nakhira, Director of Human Rights Division at the Secretariat of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior said that the UAE is the first Arab country to promulgate a law to combat human trafficking and to set up a national committee for prevention. He added that this clearly emphasises the desire of the country to preserve human dignity and personal liberty, stemming from its faith in a single humanity without discrimination on the basis of race, gender and wealth.

He said that human trafficking is the most serious form of organized crimes which threatens the security and stability in various countries around the world. It is also one of the most serious behavioral practices against the human and social values as it creates victims who suffer from physical, psychological and social problems.

Col.Ahmed was speaking during the graduation ceremony at the Police College in Abu Dhabi at the end of a training programme on 'Combating Human Trafficking'.

Several senior Police officers were present at the ceremony.

Colonel Ahmed Mohammed Nakhira noted that as part of the constant care of the Ministry of Interior to fight organized crimes in all its forms and manifestations, in particular the elimination of the phenomenon of human trafficking that threatens the international community, Lt. General Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior issued the Ministerial Decree No.422 / 2009 setting up a committee to combat human trafficking, thus strengthening the state's efforts in this area.

WAM/AB

Seven men get life terms for human trafficking in Abu Dhabi

Six others get 10 years for aiding prostitution
By Samir Salama, Associate Editor
Published: 00:00 January 20, 2010

Abu Dhabi: Seven members of the biggest human trafficking ring to be broken in Abu Dhabi have been sentenced to life imprisonment, a court has ruled.

Abu Dhabi Criminal Court also ordered the Syrian men identified as SMA, AAA, AMA, MAA, AMQ, KAA and AAA, to be deported after serving their term.

They lured women to the UAE on the promise of high salaries and career opportunities, but later beat them and forced them into prostitution, according to court records.

Six other Syrian members of the ring were jailed for 10 years to be followed by deportation. They denied the charges of operating a human trafficking ring, but pleaded guilty to facilitating prostitution.

The women hoping for a good job get lured here only to find themselves enslaved in an underworld of prostitution, court records said.

Employment visas

They arranged employment visas for the women, welcomed them at the airport and provided them with luxury accommodation in villas. Then the women had their passport confiscated, put under lock-an-key, beaten, starved and forced into prostitution.

One woman managed to escape and led the police to other captive women, who had been brought over from Morocco.

The police caught some handlers as they locked a number of women in a flat.

A week later, two other women escaped and aided by neighbours they reported the ring to the police, who arrested more captors in another flat. Another member of the ring was caught at the airport as he was trying to flee the country.

Police investigation led to another villa, which was raided after a warrant was obtained from the prosecution. Prosecutors said the defendants violated human rights laws, defamed the country's reputation, and trafficked women — enslaving them for money.

The women testified they were intimidated and led to believe their captors were influential and well-connected with the police and other authorities. Lawyers for the defendants claimed the women came knowingly to Abu Dhabi to work as prostitutes.

An official source from the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department praised the cooperation among the authorities, saying breaking this big ring of human trafficking attests to the security the emirate enjoys and the experience of its police in dealing with all forms of crimes.

The case is the latest to be tried under federal anti-trafficking legislation introduced in 2006 that specifies life imprisonment and fines of up to Dh1 million.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/unitedarabemirates/2236851/Women-enslaved-by-Arab-royals.html   JULY 2008 

   “Life’s most urgent question is “What are we doing for others?” - MLK