Shaykh Abdullah bin Bayyah, President of The Forum for Promoting Peace in Muslim Societies, has praised the UAE’s strenuous efforts to combat national and international human trafficking, through issuing a federal law to criminalise such actions.

During his speech to the United Nations, UN, non-governmental organisations at the Davos Economic Forum in New York, which organised the event and invited him to speak, bin Bayyah highlighted the importance of exerting greater efforts to combat new forms of human trafficking, which do not conform to the traditional forms of slavery based on religion or race, which are caused by economic reasons and the effects of consumerism, and violate human dignity and its fundamental values.

There are numerous reasons for this phenomenon, including wars that have led to mass migration and have made desperate people more vulnerable to exploitation and having their rights denied, he added.

Bayyah attacked the criminal organisations that work in human trafficking and utilise science and advanced technologies for this purpose while highlighting the necessity of creating a balance between scientific development and ethical progress, to ensure that modern technologies would only be used to promote the values of peace, love and giving.

He stressed that religions should create a social alliance to combat the criminal trend of human trafficking, and invest in the values of equality, freedom and dignity, as these values involve all people without discrimination.

He also stressed that the Forum seeks to end all wars and their causes. Therefore, it is a part of the global efforts to combat human trafficking, which should be supported by a strong set of legislations, he added.