04/12/2013 14:09 GMT

ABU DHABI, April 12, 2013 (AFP) - The United Arab Emirates vowed on Friday to keep up its assistance to 19 Sri Lankans seeking refugee status in a third country since they arrived after a shipwreck nearly six months ago.

They are part of a group of 45 Sri Lankans -- including former rebels -- rescued last October when their boat sank off Dubai and who later asked the UNHCR to be classified as refugees.

A poor legal and regulatory framework for the protection of labour rights has resulted in a high prevalence of labour rights violations in the UAE, as illustrated by Maplecroft’s Labour Rights and Protection Map. Violations are typically a result of weak legal enforcement and the fact that the labour laws fall short of international standards in several respects. This is especially the case regarding the right of workers to organise in trade unions. Migrant workers, accounting for approximately 90% of the workforce, are especially at risk.

WAM Dubai, June 19th, 2012 (WAM) -- Dubai Municipality has completed installation works for 5 devices in urban areas of Dubai to monitor earthquake. It was installed near some sky scrapers to watch the impact of tremors on these buildings, said Mohamed Mashroom, Director of Survey Department with the civic body.

Mohamed Mashroom said installment of these new devices in addition to the current network for seismic monitoring of Dubai Municipality hopefully will support and increase the efficiency of early-earthquake- warning systems.

Abu Dhabi, 14 December 2011: The UAE Office for the Coordination of Foreign Aid (OCFA) hosted a one-day workshop today in Abu Dhabi for the UAE’s humanitarian donor community on the principles and practices of evaluating humanitarian programs. The workshop was chaired by the UAE Red Crescent Authority and held in partnership with DARA, an independent organisation committed to improving the quality and effectiveness of aid for vulnerable populations suffering from conflict, disasters and climate change.

President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, has ordered various humanitarian foundations and authorities in the country to coordinate and organise emergency aid by constituting a team for those affected by the devastating earthquake in eastern Turkey. This initiative comes within his keenness to support other nations during catastrophes. - Emirates News Agency, WAM

WAM Abu Dhabi, May 19th, 2011 (WAM) -- The UAE Office for the Coordination of Foreign Aid (OCFA) and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) today concluded a five-day workshop on "Basic Tools and Mechanisms for Emergency Humanitarian Response", aimed at enhancing the field response skills of locally-based humanitarian personnel.

All precautionary measures taken by the Ministry of Health in coordination with other relevant health authorities were absolutely sound and meets with requirements and recommendations by the World Health Organisation (WHO), a senior health official affirmed today.

"The UAE is free of any infection of the disease for the time being. precautionary measures are being updated in view of the global outbreak of the disease and whenever necessary,' said Dr. Ali bin Shukr, MoH Director and Chairman of the Technical Health

Written permission is not required for the use and reproduction of this map as allowed by statutory exemptions (e.g. UN-affiliated or partner nongovernmental organizations, United Nations Associations, UN System organizations including Specialized Agencies) or Fair Use. It applies solely to scholarly, academic, non-profit, or journalistic use of the properly credited ReliefWeb map.

Any ReliefWeb map, whether used in print, electronic or online format, must be credited as follows: Created by ReliefWeb.