Children trafficked to the UAE have been given a fresh start with families in Europe and Australia to help them overcome the trauma of being sold into the sex trade by their relatives.
The UAE is working with foreign governments and United Nations agencies to find homes in nations that have rehabilitation programmes.
At the 5th Arab Regional Conference on the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect, police and case workers spoke of entering massage parlours, clubs and beauty salons to reach women forced to work against their will. Some had information about others locked up in apartments and beaten into submission.
“In high risk cases where children have been trafficked by their family we cannot send them home because they will be trapped and trafficked again and again,” said Ghanima Al Bahri, director of care and rehabilitation with the Dubai Foundation for Women and Children.
“We have partnered with UNHCR to resettle children in countries in Europe like Sweden or in Australia.”
The foundation could not provide numbers or ages of children housed with families overseas over the past year.
While the numbers of young victims was small, their plight was distressing due to the physical and mental ordeal they suffer.
In trafficking cases last year, some 34 were women and three involved the sale of children, according to figures from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.
Three people were jailed for life and 106 arrested in 2016 for human trafficking.
Rehabilitation abroad is an exhaustive process of matching the sexually exploited children and teenagers with families of similar ethnicity and language.
The young sent abroad over the past year are enroled in schools, and a few in universities, Ms Al Bahri said.
“Some of the children who are very young don’t even know their parents because they were sold several times. We work very hard to find an alternate home and family. They need a better life and new opportunities with another family.”
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Teenagers who remember being sold by their families confide to social workers that they cannot go home because they know they will be forced back into prostitution.
Runaway maids too are lured with promises of better jobs and coerced into prostitution.
“From our own statistics, we have noticed that domestic workers are trafficked internally in the UAE because the trafficker manipulates them, gives them false information that if they leave the house they will get 10 times higher salary,” Ms Al Bahri said.
“Since they are not educated, they believe this and run away. Then they are locked up in an apartment, beaten and forced into the sex business.”
Computer, secretarial and make-up courses with companies working with DFWAC to provide training are part of rehabilitation efforts. Most return home to their families after legal proceedings are completed.
Law enforcement officials said trafficking was on the rise and only combined action would stop exploitation.
“The percentage of human trafficking is on the increase and it’s not just the UAE that is facing this,” said Ahmad Youssef Al Mansouri, director of legal affairs, Dubai Police citing a 2016 UN report that women and children victims are from 137 countries including Asia and Africa.
“We need more cooperation because every country should be aware that no single country can combat this alone. Children and women are forced into this because of poverty, political instability and class differences.”
There has been a shift from treating the women as criminals to an understanding that they are victims, said Mansoor Al Balooshi, a Dubai Police officer from the scholarship department.
Focusing only on cases that make it to court do not reflect the widespread problem, he said.
“You may go to a salon or a hotel where the cleaning person may be a human trafficking victim. Unfortunately, the issue is underestimated. Countries treat it as organized crime but we need to look at the victim. Punishment and jail for traffickers, yes, but victims need protection. If the victim is not the centre of our efforts, things will never change.”
He said it required special focus to find young victims.
“It is hard to find the children because they don’t know how to come to us,” Mr Al Balooshi said.
“We look for them in brothel raids, clubs, parties or even begging on streets.”
Police posted at airports lookout for possible victims and distribute information on helplines and centres such as DFWAC and shelters in Abu Dhabi and Sharjah.
Ultra processed foods
- Carbonated drinks, sweet or savoury packaged snacks, confectionery, mass-produced packaged breads and buns
- margarines and spreads; cookies, biscuits, pastries, cakes, and cake mixes, breakfast cereals, cereal and energy bars;
- energy drinks, milk drinks, fruit yoghurts and fruit drinks, cocoa drinks, meat and chicken extracts and instant sauces
- infant formulas and follow-on milks, health and slimming products such as powdered or fortified meal and dish substitutes,
- many ready-to-heat products including pre-prepared pies and pasta and pizza dishes, poultry and fish nuggets and sticks, sausages, burgers, hot dogs, and other reconstituted meat products, powdered and packaged instant soups, noodles and desserts.
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Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
ULTRA PROCESSED FOODS
- Carbonated drinks, sweet or savoury packaged snacks, confectionery, mass-produced packaged breads and buns
- margarines and spreads; cookies, biscuits, pastries, cakes, and cake mixes, breakfast cereals, cereal and energy bars;
- energy drinks, milk drinks, fruit yoghurts and fruit drinks, cocoa drinks, meat and chicken extracts and instant sauces
- infant formulas and follow-on milks, health and slimming products such as powdered or fortified meal and dish substitutes,
- many ready-to-heat products including pre-prepared pies and pasta and pizza dishes, poultry and fish nuggets and sticks, sausages, burgers, hot dogs, and other reconstituted meat products, powdered and packaged instant soups, noodles and desserts.
Washmen Profile
Date Started: May 2015
Founders: Rami Shaar and Jad Halaoui
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Laundry
Employees: 170
Funding: about $8m
Funders: Addventure, B&Y Partners, Clara Ventures, Cedar Mundi Partners, Henkel Ventures
Monster Hunter: World
Capcom
PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Results
6.30pm Madjani Stakes Rated Conditions (PA) I Dh160,000 I 1,900m I Winner: Mawahib, Tadhg O’Shea (jockey), Eric Lemartinel (trainer)
7.05pm Maiden Dh150,000 I 1,400m I Winner One Season, Antonio Fresu, Satish Seemar
7.40pm: Maiden Dh150,000 I 2,000m I Winner Street Of Dreams, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson
8.15pm Dubai Creek Listed I Dh250,000 I 1,600m I Winner Heavy Metal, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer
8.50pm The Entisar Listed I Dh250,000 I 2,000m I Winner Etijaah, Dane O’Neill, Doug Watson
9.25pm The Garhoud Listed I Dh250,000 I 1,200m I Winner Muarrab, Dane O’Neill, Ali Rashid Al Raihe
10pm Handicap I Dh160,000 I 1,600m I Winner Sea Skimmer, Patrick Cosgrave, Helal Al Alawi
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
