UAE’S LAWS ON HUMAN TRAFFICKING
Human Trafficking is illegal! It is a serious crime in the UAE. Traffickers face stiff penalties against traffickers ranging from one year to life in prison and financial fines amounting from Dh 20,000 up to Dh1 million.
On 12/11/2006, President HH Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan issued a federal law for combating crimes of human trafficking. The law was issued in accordance with approval of the federal cabinet and endorsement of the Supreme Council of the UAE federation.
Article 1
The law defines human trafficking as "mobilizing, transporting, dispatching, or receiving persons through the use or threatened use of force or any other forms of coercion, kidnapping, deceit, manipulation, misuse of power, exploitation of others' weaknesses, or giving or receiving financial funds or advantages to win the support of a person having influence over another person with a view to exploiting him." Exploitation is defined to include exploitation for sex, engaging others in prostitution, servitude, forced labor, enslavement, quasi-slavery practices, or detachment of organs.
An organized criminal gang is defined as a group of three or more people who collaborate to carry out a premeditated act with the intent of committing a human trafficking crime for the sake of gaining directly or indirectly a financial or any other material benefit.
A crime is adjudged to be transnational if it is:
- Committed in more than one country
- Committed in one country but preparation, planning, direction and supervision were carried out from another country
- Committed in one country but the perpetrators were an organized criminal gang involved in criminal activities in several countries
- Committed in one country but its repercussions radiated into another country
Article 2
Those who commit a crime of human trafficking will be imprisoned for a term of at least five years.
The penalty will be life imprisonment if:
- Perpetrator has created, organized, run, assumed a leading role in, or solicited others to join, an organized criminal gang
- The victim was a female, child (under 18 years), or handicapped
- The crime is committed through deceit, involved the use of force or threat of murder or bodily harm, or involved physical or psychological torture
- The crime is committed by two or more people, or by an armed person
- The perpetrator is a member of an organized criminal gang, or has consciously taken part in the activities of that gang
- The perpetrator is a public servant or commissioned with a public task
- The crime is a trans-national
Article 3
Spells out a penalty of one to five years in prison and/or a fine of Dh 5,000 to 20,000 for whoever was aware of a plan to commit one of the human trafficking crimes, but failed to inform the concerned authorities.
The law stipulates various imprisonment and fine penalties for a host of acts, including the use or threatened use of force or offering or promising a gift or advantage to prompt others to give a false testimony or withhold true information, and possessing, harboring or dispensing articles gained through a human trafficking crime.
Corporate bodies will be liable to a fine ranging between Dh 100,000 and one million if their representatives, managers, or agents committed a human trafficking crime.