Dubai to set up special human trafficking court

Dubai will establish a specialised court to deal with human trafficking cases by the end of the year, according to Judge Ahmed Ibrahim Saif.

“The new court is being extended from the Criminal Court and the move aims to speed up the process of such cases and to help the victims,” the judge told Emarat Al Youm newspaper.

“The Dubai public prosecution has referred 15 cases of human trafficking to the courts since the beginning of this year,” he said.

The judge said: “All the cases referred to the court will concern sexual exploitation and not other forms of trafficking such as forced labour, which means the exploitation of others without pay, or slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs.”

“The main reason for setting up the court is to protect the interests of the victims and to mitigate the damage inflicted upon them due to such crimes.”

The court will give priority to the victims by hearing their testimonies in the first session of the trial and assist them in returning to their homeland, said the judge.

He explained that the Criminal Courts in Dubai include criminal court, misdemeanors court, traffic court, immigration court, and juveniles and family court, in addition to the new court that will be set up soon to focus on cases of human trafficking.

Judge Saif said: “Issues related to human trafficking have their own peculiarity where the government takes care of the victims until the case is adjudicated, which is expensive.

“The legal proceedings also differ from other cases and are ruled by the UAE law on combating crimes of trafficking in human beings - No 51 of 2006 - in addition to international agreements signed with other countries.”

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