Dubai - More than 4,000 prostitutes were deported from the UAE last year, according to the Director of Human Rights Department at Dubai police. Colonel Mohammad Al-Mir said that 4,300 women were arrested and subsequently charged with prostitution and deported. “There is a strategy now being carried out by Dubai Police to bring about an end to the prostitution problem in cooperation with different agencies,†he said at a lecture about human trafficking held by the Institute of Justice in Abu Dhabi last week.
A senior officer at Dubai Police said that they are making regular raids on suspicious places and prostitutes are then referred to the Public Prosecution. When deported they are blacklisted to prevent their return back to the country in the future. Police are also making checks on tourist companies who bring women into the country, to make sure they are not prostitutes, Companies caught carrying out illegal activities have their work registration cancelled.
Dubai Police said they also work with the Immigration Department to prevent prostitutes entering the country and plying their trade. Al-Mir pointed out that there is a marked difference between prostitution and woman trafficking. “The woman that practice prostitution without pressure from anybody must be punished and deported. But if somebody has forced her into prostitution and takes advantage of her body to make a financial profit then she is a victim and the person who forced her into prostitution will be punished.â€
