Human rights offices soon at Dubai airports

Round-the-clock human rights offices will be set up at all Dubai airports next year to clamp down on human trafficking and other exploitation, according to officials.

Mohammed Al Murr, Director of the General Department of Human Rights of Dubai Police, said the human rights offices would be opened to intervene instantly in case of any occurrence of any humanitarian cases. He said the directive, which had come from Dubai Police Commander-in-Chief Lt-Gen Dhahi Khalfan Tamim, required the Dubai Police’s Human Rights Department to open offices at all Dubai airports, which would operate 24X7 to oversee passengers coming into the country, especially women, and detect contradictory information regarding age or kin relationship between family members. Officers and officials would be trained to discover any tampering of official documents and to use information available to ensure that any girl or child’s age is not forged, to prevent human trafficking and abuse or  exploitation of any kind, he said. The human rights offices would also prevent the exploitation of people who came to Dubai on a visit or to work who had actually been brought to the country for other reasons, such as prostitution, he added.

Al Murr said human rights offices would receive all complaints, even against policemen and government officials.

The officials will also intervene to verify whether a person listed on a banned travel list should be on the list or not, as in some cases there were financial claims the person was supposed to pay. However, some authorities do not remove the ban despite the payment of obligations and many passengers have been affected by this, Al Murr said.

Brochures issued by the department regarding rights and freedom, combating human trafficking and protection of women and children would be distributed to spread awareness, he said. If the need arose to have female staff in attendance, that would be be provided.
Khaleej Times