‘Majority of Dubai residents believe prostitutes are victims of human trafficking’
DUBAI: A survey carried out in the emirate of Dubai measuring the community’s level of awareness of human trafficking revealed that 81 per cent of respondents take prostitutes as victims of human trafficking, and only 19 per cent responded in the negative.
The survey was initiated by Dubai Police’s Human Rights Department, commissioned by Human Trafficking Crime Control Centre and conducted by Addaera Research and Polls Centre.
The 175-page report was presented by the Chairman of Addaera Dherar Belhoul Al Falasi to the Assistant Director General of Total Quality at Dubai Police, Major General Dr Abdul Quddous Al Obaidly, in a meet recently held at the police officers’ club in Garhoud.
There were several cases the questionnaire posed to the public to establish whether they were classified as human trafficking.
Of these, 32 per cent of respondents said it was buying and selling of children; 27 per cent said it meant forcing people to work without salary; 27 per cent believed it was trading in human body parts; 41 per cent said it was forcing women into prostitution while 29 took it to be forcing children into begging.
Of all these, 47 per cent said human trafficking was “every category as mentioned above.” Four per cent said they had no idea while two per cent had “other ideas.”
The survey indicated that 35 per cent of the respondents believed that women are the most vulnerable group susceptible to human trafficking, while 28 per cent believed it was children and 7 per cent said men.
The study targeted a stratified random sample from the Dubai community comprising 1,597 individuals from three different sectors: government (823 individuals that is 51.5 per cent of the total sample), the private sector (485 individuals, 30 per cent) and members of the public (285 which is 17.8 per cent).
Do the respondents know of the existence of the law against human trafficking? As high as 79 per cent said yes; 17 per cent said they didn’t know while four per cent said the law was not in existence.
However, 72 per cent are aware and have ever been exposed to the law while 28 per cent don’t know.
The Human Trafficking Law was introduced in 2006 paving the way for the establishment of the National Committee on Combating Human Trafficking in the UAE in 2007.
Of over 20 nationalities that responded, Emiratis were the biggest number hitting 31 per cent, followed by the Indians, 30 per cent; unspecified, 17 per cent; Filipinos, 13 per cent; Egyptians, 5 per cent and Pakistanis 4 per cent.
University graduates peaked 52 per cent, followed by higher school certificate holders at 23 per cent and the rest combined comprised 25 per cent. The gender composition was 61 per cent male and 39 per cent female.
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