The government of the United Kingdom prohibited all forms of trafficking with the adoption of the Sexual Offences Act 2004 and Asylum and Immigration Act 2004, which prescribed penalties of a maximum of 14 years’ imprisonment573. To disrupt trafficking networks and rescue victims, the UK government completed operation Pentameter II (this was a large-scale operation aimed at disrupting trafficking networks and rescuing victims) in March 2008, thereby identifying 167 potential victims, arresting 528 suspects and seizing assets of over 5 million dollars. Despite all the efforts by the government, many
571“The Trade in Human Beings: Human Trafficking in the UK”, Sixth Report of Session 2008–09, Volume I, House
of Commons, The Home Affairs Committee, www.statewatch.org/news/2009/may/uk-hasc-trafficking-report- vol1.pdf, (accessed July 13, 2013).
572 Ibid.
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NGOs and international organisations have expressed serious concerns regarding the government’s ability to protect children. Even the Metropolitan Police estimate that 70% of the 88,000 women engaged in prostitution in England and Wales are under the control of traffickers. To address such concerns the UK government launched the “Blue Blindfold” awareness campaign in January 2008 in 12 major cities in the UK574. Through this campaign, the government sought to provide awareness about trafficking through a series of posters, leaflets and a website575.
The UAE is a major destination country for both male and female victims of human trafficking. Most of the victims are brought from South and South East Asia for the purpose of labour and commercial sexual exploitation. In contrast to the UK, trafficking in the UAE for domestic workforce exploitation is aided by the non-inclusion of domestic workers under the protection guaranteed by the UAE labour law. Numerous cases have been reported in the country that involved the exploitation of domestic workers by unlawful withholding of passports, restrictions on movement, non-payment of wages, life threats, physical and sexual abuses. These conditions do prevail in the UK, but to a much lesser extent. The implementation of rules and regulation as far as trafficking is concerned is much better than the UAE. The comparative ranking of the two countries by the Department of State, US up to 2009 is given below in figure 6.2.
574 Ibid.
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Figure 6.2: Tier ranking of the UK and the UAE by year576
These rankings show that the UK has consistently stood at number one position for its commitment to anti-trafficking efforts. However, the position of the UAE has fluctuated from the worst ranking of 3 in 2001 to the best rank of 1 in 2003 and finally to settle at 2WL ranking in 2009 (2WL rank is depicted by 2.5 in the above chart).
One basic thing that this ranking depicts is that internationally the efforts of the UK in combating trafficking are appreciated while those of the UAE are still lagging behind. In this regard, the first thing to be noted is that the government of the UAE was far behind in the adoption of any kind of anti-trafficking law. Federal Law 51 was adopted in 2006 in the UAE. It is now considered to be a major step towards the elimination of trafficking from the UAE. In the case of the UK, anti-trafficking measures were adopted much earlier, with preliminary steps being taken long ago in 1807.
Secondly, by analysing the key features of anti-trafficking measures it is revealed that differences exist between the action plans adopted by the two countries. TheUK’splan is performing much better than the UAE’s plan. The Home Office of the UK government along with the Scottish Executive formulated an anti-trafficking action plan having six objectives. These included prevention, law enforcement and prosecution, providing
576Trafficking in Persons Report, 2009, Op cit.
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 UAE UK
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assistance and protection to adult victims, having provision for specific measures for children trafficking victims, collaboration with international partners, and finally, monitoring. On the other hand, the National Committee to Combat Human Trafficking (NCCHT) formed in the UAE in 2007 for combating trafficking is working with only four objectives. These are legislation, enforcement, victim support, and international cooperation and bilateral agreements. Four of these are in line with the action plan of the UK, but two main factor are excluded. The UK’s plan has special provisions for providing support to victims of child trafficking. NCCHT’s anti-trafficking efforts are also devoid of monitoring efforts. These two lacunae need to be taken care of as soon as possible.
Thirdly, it should also be acknowledged at this juncture that with regard to legislation the UAE government stands nowhere in comparison with the UK. The government of the UAE adopted just one piece of legislation (Federal Law 51) in 2006. On the other hand, the government of the UK took proactive action in this direction, from time to time, in line with anti-trafficking requirements. The UK government introduced the Sexual Offences Act 2003 and the Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc.) Act 2004 along with the equivalent Scottish provisions of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2003 and the Protection of Children and Prevention of Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2005to boost anti-trafficking legislation.
Finally, the UK has well-established anti-trafficking agencies to combat trafficking. The National Referral Mechanism (NRM) makes enquiries to determine the status of victims in two stages: ‘reasonable ground’ and ‘positive ground’. The Inter-Departmental Ministerial Group (IDMG) on human trafficking established in the UK is tasked with monitoring all anti-trafficking efforts. Other than these, some non-government organisations like the Anti- trafficking Monitoring Group are also actively involved in monitoring and tracking trafficking cases in the UK. In the case of the UAE, the government has not taken proper measures to revamp NCCHT. The committee is the only official institution in the country to combat and monitor trafficking activities. There is hardly any active private institution or agency that is monitoring and analysing the anti-trafficking efforts of the government of the UAE.
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6.6 Conclusion
The chapter provided an overview of the current situation of human trafficking in the UK and also explained in detail the various measures taken by the government to combat trafficking in the country. A key feature of these measures is the proactive nature adopted by the UK government to address the short comings as and when they are known. However, the analysis of the same efforts taken by the government of the UAE reveals a different story altogether. Although the UAE has adopted anti-trafficking legislation, the basic urge to implement it on the ground seems to be lacking. It is time for the UAE government to deal with this issueseriously. It should devise amendments and changes to the Federal Law 51 in line with international requirements and the changing modus operandi of traffickers. A practical and upbeat approach to trafficking should be adopted by the government of the UAE.
It would be appropriate to mention that despite its best efforts, the UK government has not been able to curb trafficking in humans completely in the country. The number of cases cited in the chapter indicates that trafficking is still occurring in the country. However, the approach adopted by the government has made life difficult for traffickers. The same kind of approach and practical orientation is required from the government of the UAE.
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Chapter Seven: Research Methodology
7.1 Introduction
The review of literature in chapter 2 provided an overview of the current status of human trafficking. It revealed that human trafficking has penetrated into almost every society and country. The literature review also helped in determining the different types of victims of human trafficking. The efforts taken by the world community in tackling human trafficking around the globe are given in the conventions against human trafficking. Chapter 3 explained the conventions adopted by various international organisations and national governments to curb this menace. Since the focus of this research is to determine the present state of human trafficking in the UAE and its comparison with the UK, chapters 5 and 6 dealt with the ground realities of human trafficking in these two countries. This chapter deals with the details of research methodology adopted in this study.
The chapter begins with an explanation of the kind of research design used for the study. The rationale for using this design is also explained in detail. The next section includes a discussion on the data collection strategies employed for this study. Both primary and secondary data was collected for the purpose of this study. The two techniques used for data collection were policy and documentary analysis, and semi-structured interviews. The policy and documentary analysis was done through secondary sources while semi- structured interviews were the primary sources of data for this study. The background research for the project encompassed both primary and secondary research materials. The primary research was conducted through the use of semi-structured interviews. One of the key aims of the primary data gathering was to gather data from parties involved in the UAE’s continuing fight against human trafficking and for an evaluation of progress to be established.
The policy and documentary analysis is covered along with an explanation of the process of the interviews undertaken to conduct this research. The secondary research approach allowed for the collation and analysis of international and national reports, and for the considerations of other researchers and academics in the field to be assessed. A large desk-
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based study using available library sources, both hard copy and electronic, was utilised, and a clear pattern for the evaluation of trafficking was thus established.
One of the benefits of this methodology, combining primary and secondary analyses, was that it enabled the researcher to adopt a number of approaches within the analysis. Thus, a black-letter approach (often found in considerations of legal documents and sources), was used to evaluate the impact of UAE legislation and the overlap with UK source materials. Whilst this may have a limitation in that it may provide an overtly descriptive focus, the comparative aspects did provide the opportunity for greater evaluative and analytical dimensions to the discussion. Therefore, the comparative approach was highlighted as an important approach to the methodology. Furthermore, the evaluation of the varying reports and primary research findings allowed the researcher to adopt a more socio-legal perspective and gave greater emphasis to the critical dimensions of the findings and conclusions.
The pilot study conducted before carrying out the interviews and the modifications made thereafter are also discussed. As a part of the pilot study three preliminary interviews were conducted with the officials of the government of the UAE. These interviews were recorded and later transcripts were prepared. The analysis of these transcripts revealed that some of the questions were not properly understood by the interviewees. Modifications were made to these questions. Questions like “how big is the issue?” and “how does human trafficking differ from migrant smuggling?” were modified to “according to you how severe is the issue?” and “Did you perceive that different issues are involved in human trafficking and migrant smuggling?” respectively. Similarly, in some questions language was changed while in others the entire question was either dropped or modified.