Dubai: Training will be rolled out to frontline personnel of Emirates, including cabin crew and airport ground staff, as part of an ongoing campaign against the trafficking of humans.
Also called modern-day slavery, human trafficking is a growing problem. In the United States alone, there were more than 5,000 “potential “ human trafficking cases in 2015 and nearly 2,000 of these cases involved victims under 18 years of age, according to the National Human Trafficking Hotline.
To help combat these crimes, a new learning module has just been developed, and it is scheduled to roll out this month to some of Emirates' staff. The course seeks to help improve aviation personnel's capability in detecting trafficking cases and also tackle other types of crime on board, such as drug smuggling and theft.
The new course was developed after Emirates Group Security, part of the Emirates Group, worked together with the UK government.
"The new e-learning course will be rolled out in October 2017 as part of the training requirements internally for Emirates cabin crew and other airport ground staff," the company said in a statement on Wednesday.
"The course will also be included as part of the aviation security programme offered by Emirates Group Security in collaboration with Edith Cowan University, Australia."
Emirates Group Security had earlier extended assistance to the UK government during the development stages of the anti-trafficking course in order to gather content and insights which would eventually help staff observe and recognise behaviour of potential offenders.
This included sharing of important behavioural traits of traffickers as well as victims and case studies of successful interception and prosecution of offenders.
The course also offers practical guidelines on what staff can do in situations where they suspect a potential crime.
Officials said the trafficking of humans is a global concern that needs to be addressed.
"Human trafficking is a global problem that affects hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. We have developed this new training module with the aim of helping our staff become more aware and observant of the behaviour of potential crime offenders and possible victims of human trafficking," said Dr Abdullah Al Hashimi, divisional senior vice president, Emirates Group Security.
“By collaborating with the UK government, we have been able to build in more practical insights and information into this new module which reinforces the existing training that we have been imparting to our staff.”
