The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is one of the global epicenters for human trafficking, with 95 percent of its private workforce comprising vulnerable and easily exploitable low-income migrant workers from mostly India, Pakistan, China, and Bangladesh. Bear in mind that 90 percent of the country’s 10 million population are foreign nationals, that is the native population and citizens are only 1 million.
From the moment migrant workers arrive at either Abu Dhabi or Dubai’s international airport, their nightmare begins, with a majority of new arrivals’ passports typically confiscated in violation of international law, a deliberate move by their employer to further entrench their slavery by denying freedom of movement within or out of the country.