The UK has ratified the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings. This convention requires a state to adopt minimum standards for dealing with cases of human trafficking. It makes it mandatory for the state to provide certain basic support and protection to the victims of human trafficking. With this Convention, the UK entered the league of a select few countries in the world which have adopted policies for the victims of human trafficking. This reflects the maturity in anti-trafficking efforts adopted by the UK authorities. The UK was the first country to adopt the Anti-Slavery Law back in 1807.
The government of the UK considers human trafficking to be a criminal activity and a violation of human rights588. It requires the protection of victims of human trafficking by all possible means, as they are exploited in many cases beyond the imagination of the common man. Special efforts are required for the victims of sexual harassment who are transported into the UK on false promises of better living conditions and decent salaries. In many cases these victims were even denied their share of income earned through illegal prostitution and were kept in forced confinement. In chapter 1, the purposes of trafficking and its impact on an individual, society, and the economy were discussed. Chapter 2 described in detail various aspects related to human trafficking in general. It included the definition of human trafficking, various estimates of trafficking, comparison of trafficking with slavery and migrant smuggling, and a discussion on anti-trafficking actors and counter-trafficking strategies. These two chapters provided a solid platform for analysing the various aspects of human trafficking in the UK.
Recently, awareness of trading in human beings for forced labour and sexual exploitation is increasing the UK. Through the efforts of the media and social groups, the attention of common people and the government was drawn towards the need for fulfilling the provisions of various laws and regulations that were passed to combat human trafficking. There are several Acts such as the Sexual Offences Act 2003, Criminal Justice (Scotland)
588Daffron, J. W. (2011), “Combating Human Trafficking: Evolution of State Legislation and the Policies of the
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Act 2003, Children Act 1989, Gangmasters (Licensing) Act 2004, Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006, Crime Act 2002 and the Human Rights Act 1998 that outlaw human trafficking and empower the state to put an effective check on trafficking activities589. The UK has also signed and ratified the UN’s Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children (the ‘Palermo Protocol’). Hence, it can be stated that, as of now, the UK has a vibrant number of anti- trafficking laws in place. These laws address different aspects of human trafficking like forced labour, prostitution, torture, slavery, illegal immigration, and so on.
The situation of trafficking in persons in the UAE was analysed in chapter 4 of this study. It was found that the anti-trafficking laws in the UAE were of recent origin. Although care has been taken in drafting these laws there are still many issues that have to be resolved to make the UAE a proactive country in anti-trafficking efforts. The first law against trafficking in the UAE was adopted in 2006. The following year the National Committee for Combating Human Trafficking (NCCHT) was formed to report the cases of human trafficking and to monitor the entire country. Due to the late adoption of anti-trafficking laws, the mechanisms adopted in the UAE are not particularly effective. The numbers of cases being reported are much lower than the actual proportion of the crime. The anti- trafficking officers do not have much experience in handling cases of human trafficking. In a few cases they have not shown the kind of sensitivity towards the victims of human trafficking as is expected of an officer working in this field. The country is also lacking a knowledge base on human trafficking activities. The legislation is mainly drawn from those adopted in Western countries. Little attention was paid to local issues and realities on the ground. It is expected that this study will bring out the lacunae in anti-trafficking legislation and the implementation of these laws in the UAE.
There are wide disparities amongst the emirates of the UAE. Five out of seven emirates do not have any shelters orhome for the victims of human trafficking. These emirates also do not have a proper training mechanism for the police officers in anti-trafficking. Specialised and trained officers are required for these five emirates. The anti-trafficking mechanism
589The Trade in Human Beings: Human Trafficking in the UK, Sixth Report of Session 2008–09, Volume I, House
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can only be strengthened in the UAE by ensuring the joint and sincere efforts of all the emirates. Monitoring the operations of traffickers requires coordination from all the emirates on an equal footing. Otherwise, traffickers will remain active in the country as they can continuously shift from one emirate to another depending upon the efforts undertaken by each emirate.