US embassy cable - 04ABUDHABI1832

UNCLAS ABU DHABI 001832 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR G/TIP, INL, DRL, NEA/RA, AND NEA/ARP 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, PREL, TC 
SUBJECT: UAE: ABU DHABI POLICE COLLEGE HOSTS ANTI-TIP 
POLICE TRAINING SYMPOSIUM 
 
REF: A) ABU DHABI 814 B) ABU DHABI 684 
 
1. SUMMARY. The Abu Dhabi Police Officers' Training 
Institute, in coordination with the Police Research Center 
and the Office of the U/S of the Ministry of Interior 
(MOI), held a training symposium entitled "Combating Human 
Trafficking" May 24-25.  Thirteen law enforcement 
specialists from several branches of MOI, Interpol, the UN, 
public prosecution, universities, and the French 
Government, spoke to approximately 80 UAE law enforcement 
officers, jurists, ministry officials, and others who 
follow the issue.  The speakers defined the crime in legal 
and humanitarian terms, discussed the global magnitude of 
the problem, explained how trafficking surfaces in the UAE, 
and recommended steps to eliminate trafficking on UAE soil. 
Poloff attended the entire program. END SUMMARY. 
 
2. In two days, the symposium covered practically every 
aspect of human trafficking, including forms that are not 
known to be problematic in the UAE, including trafficking 
for the purposes of illegal human organ collection. 
However, the key topics discussed by all presenters were 
trafficking of young boys to work as camel jockeys and 
trafficking of women and children for the purposes of 
sexual exploitation.  While a handful of the speakers 
downplayed the extent of the trafficking problem in the 
UAE, all admitted that it does exist here and must be 
confronted, and offered suggestions to prevent further 
trafficking, prosecute traffickers and others who benefit 
from trafficking, and protect trafficking victims. 
 
3.  Septels will discuss different recommended approaches 
to the trafficking problem as well as recommended "next 
steps."  The main objectives of the symposium included: 
 
-- Finding workable definitions of the many forms of human 
trafficking crimes, shared by all branches of government as 
they coordinate efforts to better combat trafficking; 
 
-- Identifying the main causes of trafficking, the 
different forms of trafficking, the negative effects of the 
crime on society at large, and the best practices to take 
to assist victims and prevent future incidents of 
trafficking; 
 
-- Publicly disseminating information about the "ugly 
faces" of trafficking, creating awareness among the public, 
the various security and law enforcement organizations, and 
maintaining the appropriate mechanisms to deal with the 
gravity of the phenomenon; 
 
-- Finding better methods to pre-empt, prevent, and protect 
victims, and prosecute the perpetrators through local, 
regional and international cooperation. 
 
4. Police College administrators emphasized that this 
symposium was part of an ongoing plan to provide anti- 
trafficking in persons training to all officers enrolled in 
the four-year police program.  Due to the transnational 
character of the crime, speakers and administrators 
stressed the importance of working with counterparts in 
source countries, source country embassies in the UAE, and 
UAE embassies in source countries.  They also highlighted 
the need to work closely with key international 
governmental and non-governmental organizations to prevent 
trafficking at its source, before people at risk of 
trafficking become victims. 
 
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COMMENT 
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5. The best indicator of the success of this program was 
the number of people who attended.  As is true in many 
places, conference attendees in the UAE commonly attend the 
introductory speeches, perhaps the first few presentations, 
and as time passes, the number of empty seats grows. 
During this symposium, finding an empty seat during the 
last session was almost as challenging as finding one for 
the first.  The attendees asked the speakers difficult 
questions and engaged in lively and substantive sideline 
conversations.  While there were many opinions of how 
prevalent the problem is in the UAE and how to best 
approach the crime, there was universal acceptance that 
trafficking is un-Islamic and threatens the dignity and 
honor of all human beings. 
 
WAHBA