Dubai: Dubai Foundation for Women and Children launched its sixth media campaign to raise awareness of human trafficking crimes, under the slogan "Elimination of Child Labor," in conjunction with the world day against trafficking in persons, set by the United Nations on July 30 each year.

In this context, Mrs. Shaikha Saeed Al Mansouri, Acting Director-General of Dubai Foundation for Women and Children said: The media campaign showcases the tremendous efforts made by the United Arab Emirates to combat this crime through the laws and legislation that has been set up to protect children and through protection and care strategies and other mechanisms aimed at achieving the best interests of the child at all levels in a manner that guarantees the preservation of his basic, care and social rights, his safety and ensuring his proper upbringing.

Therefore, the Foundation organizes a media campaign to raise awareness of combating human trafficking every year and presents it as a global issue with serious repercussions at all levels, in conjunction with the International Day for Combating the Crime of Trafficking, which falls on July 30 of each year.

The United Nations has adopted the slogan of 2021, which is the "International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour." Accordingly, the Foundation will publish three video clips to illustrate this issue from different angles, as it will show the issue of child exploitation globally and according to organizations and international reports, and will shed light on the serious effects and their devastating consequences on children and society through emphasizing  the importance of protecting children from exploitation and exposing them to the risks of employment through forced labor and the effects of such a crime on them such as frustration, depression, failure to continue education, diseases, the spread of bad habits such as smoking and alcohol, and their exposure to risks in harsh work environments, and it will be published in both languages; Arabic and English through the various social media channels of the Foundation.

Furthermore, based on its social responsibility and to activate the role of institutional partnership, the Foundation has transformed all content of its various types from pamphlets and educational tutorial videos into brochures, smart electronic publications, and quick links to be sent to the relevant partners who are interested in this case.

She also pointed out that the Dubai Foundation for women and children has launched an integrated program to raise awareness of the crime of human trafficking in 2014, which targeted the most vulnerable group to human trafficking, such as male and female workers in all sectors, and victims of human trafficking who were sheltered in the Foundation, and in 2019, the program won an award for the Promotion of Human Rights, presented by the European Union Mission in the United Arab Emirates, in appreciation of the Foundation's efforts in providing support and services to this category.

On the other hand, she confirmed that the Foundation had developed a program concerned with training the trainers to raise awareness of human trafficking in cooperation with consulates inside the country and has completed extensive training with the Indian Consulate to enable representatives from several different sectors of workers that belong to Indian nationality to spread awareness of this crime among workers in the country and the state of India.  The program provides training lectures to introduce human trafficking, its concepts, and the most vulnerable groups. The Foundation has also provided awareness means, which included leaflets in Hindi and posters in Arabic, Urdu, and Hindi, in addition to represent an awareness video clip on the issue, and the training concluded with a discussion of real cases and open discussion on the means of prevention and protection to prevent falling into the problem, in addition to that the foundation will conduct by next week another program concerned with training the trainers in corporation with the Indonesian consulate.

Al-Mansoori called on all members of society to contribute with the concerned and relevant authorities in combating this crime, whether by spreading awareness and conveying awareness messages to others, or reporting this crime immediately to the authorities in charge, and helping the victims throw the helpline 800111 of the Foundation or other authorities.

It is worth noting that the Foundation has communicated with the diplomatic missions of the countries, and conducted (four) meetings with (14) embassies to introduce the work of the Foundation and its services and to highlight the awareness program for the groups most vulnerable to human trafficking, and to engage them in raising awareness of trafficking crimes in human beings, Moreover In 2020, a specific program for coaching the trainers of the embassies and consulates was approved, and four workshops were conducted during 2020 and 2021

The Foundation has also coordinated with some academic institutions within the higher education stages to organize awareness lectures on the concept of human trafficking and the means of prevention and protection and learn about the legislation and laws enacted by the UAE, and distributed 100,000 leaflets in 10 different languages ​​and 215 posters to be placed in work and housing sites, disseminated awareness hearings in four different languages ​​on the radio for three consecutive years, and implemented 20 awareness lectures targeting 3000 participants at work and housing sites and for workers' representatives from all sectors, in addition to creating a technical barcode awareness card to be scanned by smart devices to facilitate obtaining information on combating human trafficking.