Seeking to raise awareness on trafficking in people, the Dubai Foundation for Women and Children (DFWAC) has set off a campaign “human trafficking in the digital space” to educate people and bring attention to the victims.
The campaign was launched to mark the World Day against Trafficking in Persons. It comes as part of a series of initiatives launched by the Foundation to protect children and women’s rights and enhance public awareness of the grave dangers that can arise from abuse or trafficking in women and children.
The campaign will focus on several issues that need to be brought to people’s attention, including how to protect oneself and others from online exploitation, weird add-on requests, digital privacy breaches, fake job ads and scams, and reporting suspicious ads.
It has warned against the potential hazards of digital space and current technologies that lack parental control, allowing them to be used to entice children and women either by employing video technology to broadcast services, announcing fake job ads, or luring and deceiving people through social media and Internet pages.
Speaking on the occasion, Shaikha Saeed Al Mansouri, Acting Director-General of DFWAC, stressed that the campaign aims to raise public awareness of human trafficking crimes while also supporting the UAE’s ongoing efforts to curb its dangers all around the world. It also comes in compliance with the UAE’s national strategies aimed at eradicating injustice that victims are suffering due to this scourge.
According to the campaign, the UAE has reported a low prevalence of child and female exploitation, citing official statistics from the Global Report on Trafficking in Persons 2020, which was published by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. It revealed that the country recorded the lowest rates of human trafficking crimes, with 5 incidents of exploitation through social media platforms being reported between 2004 and 2006, involving 39 victims, while the nation reported 27 cases between 2016 and 2018, affecting 160 victims.
The foundation urged the public to use the Internet and social media responsibly in order not to be victimized by human traffickers, in addition to strengthening cooperation and joint work with the private sector to harness innovation and develop sustainable technology-based solutions that can support national efforts aimed at preventing and combating human trafficking.