Abu Dhabi Creates Specialized Court for Human Trafficking; Consolidates Legal Authority

Abu Dhabi’s judicial system now has a dedicated court for human trafficking cases. Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Vice President of the UAE and Deputy Prime Minister, issued Resolution No. 40 of 2026 in his capacity as Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department, creating a specialised court structure that consolidates prosecution, trial, and appellate authority over trafficking offences under a single institutional framework.

The resolution’s architecture spans three judicial tiers. A dedicated Public Prosecution unit will investigate and prosecute human trafficking offences. That unit operates alongside newly designated Courts of First Instance and Courts of Appeal, both granted explicit jurisdiction over trafficking crimes. What this achieves, in structural terms, is the replacement of dispersed, fragmented case handling with a single coordinated pathway, one designed to cut processing timelines and concentrate expertise in one place.

Jurisdictional consolidation is the resolution’s operational core. The specialised court assumes authority over all human trafficking cases originating within Abu Dhabi, and the resolution goes further: it mandates the transfer of all existing trafficking cases currently before other courts to the new forum. The single exception covers cases where pleadings have already concluded, which remain in their current courts. Every other pending matter moves.

That transfer requirement creates immediate operational consequences. Case files must be physically reassigned. Judicial and prosecutorial resources must be reallocated across multiple court levels. Coordination between the outgoing and incoming forums becomes necessary from the moment the resolution takes effect.

The stated rationale frames this reorganisation within a broader policy objective described as “comprehensive judicial specialisation,” with an emphasis on timely justice delivery and enhanced legal protection. By eliminating procedural fragmentation, the integrated framework is designed to accelerate adjudication, concentrating both expertise and institutional resources within a single dedicated entity rather than distributing them across the general court system.

Implementation authority rests with the undersecretary of the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department, who will issue the operational decisions needed to activate the resolution’s provisions. This delegation establishes a clear administrative chain for translating formal authority into functioning court operations.

By contrast with ad hoc case assignment, the new structure sets measurable operational parameters: all trafficking cases flow through one institution, prosecution and adjudication functions are unified, and the appellate pathway is defined from the outset. The mandate for retroactive case consolidation means the framework’s impact is not deferred to future filings but begins with the existing caseload.

Whether the specialised structure delivers the accelerated timelines its design targets will depend on how quickly the undersecretary’s implementing decisions are issued and how smoothly the mandated case transfers are executed across Abu Dhabi’s court system.