Emirates helps shine a spotlight on the issue of human trafficking

Emirates is supporting It's a Penalty's campaign's newest global film "What is Human Trafficking?" Image: Emirates Airlines.

The short film is designed to educate the world about the misconceptions and the reality of human trafficking and exploitation happening globally.

By airing this special message on its ice inflight entertainment system on all flights from October, Emirates hopes to shine a light on this global problem and help more people understand what human trafficking is. With greater awareness, more suspected cases can be identified and reported, thereby protecting and preventing those at risk from becoming victims.

Human trafficking involves the movement of persons within a country or across borders into conditions of exploitation against their will by means of force, threats, abduction, or deception. In 2017, the International Labour Organization (ILO) estimated that there were 24.9 million people trafficked globally (equivalent to the population of Australia), of which 75% are women and children.

As one of world's largest connector of people and places, Emirates is committed to play its part to help stem this crime against humanity.

Partnerships and training

Through its security division, Emirates works with government agencies and organisations including the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the US Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC), and United Nations Office on Drug and Crimes (UNODC) on efforts to improve awareness of human trafficking and co-operate on effective response strategies within the air transport industry.

Emirates has for several years invested in training programmes to help its airport and crew workforce to be aware of this crime, and give them the tools to identify and report suspected cases of human trafficking to the appropriate law enforcement organisations.

At Emirates' hub at Dubai International Airport, a team of aviation security personnel receive special training from embassy partners on how to spot potential human traffickers while checking travel documents and conduct passenger profiling and behavioural analysis.