The UAE National Committee to Combat Human Trafficking has intensified awareness campaigns to combat human trafficking and announced a detailed schedule of law enforcement capacity building exercises.

These decisions were taken at its sixth session held in the Presidential Court in Abu Dhabi. The session was headed by UAE minister of State for FNC affairs Dr Anwar Gargash.

Dr Gargash highlighted the need to launch a comprehensive awareness campaign targeting all sections of the community on human trafficking and also called upon committee members to take note of International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

 “November 25th is International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, when we are reminded that women still suffer widely from violence, including trafficking.   Raising public awareness about human trafficking is a key component of the Committee’s strategy,” said Dr Gargash.

“A scheduled course of action is being planned to enhance public and professional knowledge about the issue, and thereby we seek to build an informed culture that will drive our efforts in combating this crime against humanity,” he added.

The minister said that the establishment of the Dubai Women and Children Foundation this year was an excellent initiative towards achieving this goal and believes it could serve as a model for the UAE to establish further social support centers.

During its sixth session, the committee approved an extensive schedule of training workshops for federal and local law enforcement agencies. Two workshops will be held during December in Abu Dhabi and Dubai in collaboration with the Ministry of Justice.

The Committee also approved a schedule organised by the Ministry of Interior Affairs on the following topics: a lecture about risks to security related to human trafficking, a training programme for law enforcement on human rights to be held in January 2008; a training programme on prevention and control of human trafficking scheduled for February and a training programme about human trafficking investigation methodology in March of 2008.

In the coming months, the committee will also conduct visits to institutions working on human trafficking control within the UAE. – TradeArabia News Service