New bid to tackle human trafficking

Just a day after police in Kigali announced a crackdown on a suspected ring trafficking young girls to Asian countries, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has agreed to boost cooperation to tackle human trafficking and migrant smuggling, and to improve border management. In addition to enhancing coordination, the IOM has signed an agreement in Vienna with the United Nations anti-crime agency as the two agencies seek to further information exchange and to extend joint activities. According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), human trafficking generates $32 billion annually, making it a threat of “extraordinary proportions,” says the Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Yury Fedotov. Through the UN agency, African countries facing the threat of human trafficking will be able to access information on the trade and seek assistance in tackling the menace.Earlier this week, police in Kigali arrested two suspects said to be the racket’s ringleaders. They were seized as they sought to procure visas for the girls through the Chinese embassy in Uganda and will be taken to court once investigations are completed. Though this type of crimes is believed to be new in Rwanda; it has been rampant in Kenya and Uganda for sometime. But within the East African Community, Kenya has most affected by the human trafficking menace and ill-treatment of employees in Middle East countries. Many Kenyans working as domestic workers in the Middle East, particularly Saudi Arabia have been mistreated by their employers, some of who confiscate their travel documents.The Ministry of Foreign Affairs recently issued a warning against unscrupulous recruiting firms extorting money from Kenyans seeking jobs in the Arab countries.In February this year, Saudi ambassador to Kenya Ghorm Malhan warned Kenyans to only work with accredited employment agencies.The vice has hit many countries world-wide, although it is just catching on in Africa. Girls spirited out East Africa either end up in Southern Africa or South East Asia.“It will require a coordinated and meaningful response at all levels: local, regional and international, if we are to have success against this global crime,” said Fedotov in a statement received by The New Times. Fedotov signed the agreement with IOM Director General William Lacy Swing on the margins of the 10th Ministerial Conference of the Central Asia Border Security Initiative. “The signing of this cooperation agreement confirms IOM’s determination to step up its cooperation with UNODC to further combat trafficking in persons, migrant smuggling and to ensure borders are managed in an integrated, modern and humane way,” said Swing. The two agencies are already working closely in the area of trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants in Southern Africa, West Africa, the Horn of Africa and East Africa. In addition to cooperation in technical assistance delivery in the field, IOM has provided expert input to a number of UNODC technical publications.Independent surveyAn independent survey on human trafficking has established that the United Arab Emirates is one of the most popular destinations for the ring and recommends that the (UAE) authorities – at Federal and Emirate level –further concentrate on the plight of the victims of trafficking, while keeping up their fight against human trafficking. “The UAE must be commended for its strong commitment to combat trafficking in persons both at the domestic level and in the Gulf region,” says the UN Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children, Joy Ngozi Ezeiloat the end of her first visit to the country. “However it needs to devote greater attention to identification of countless victims of all forms of trafficking and guarantee their right to effective remedy.” Noting that foreign workers make up more than 170 different nationalities in the UAE, Ms. Ezeilo said that over her seven-day visit she met with victims trafficked from around the world “which makes the uniqueness of the challenges faced by this country in combating this phenomenon.” “I also found that the most common forms of trafficking in the UAE are prevalent in sex trade and domestic work for women, and children in some cases, while for men, it is in the labour industry,” she added. According to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), this situation has led to the creation of a lucrative market for criminal involvement in the market of foreign workers, increasing their vulnerability to trafficking. For the Special Rapporteur, one of the major tasks ahead will be to reduce that vulnerability to human trafficking by means of safe and legal migration arrangements, in order to ensure that the high demand for cheap, low-skilled or semi-skilled foreign labour is not exploited by traffickers and agents. “I urge Government to expand the definition of trafficking, to explicitly include labour exploitation, domestic servitude as well as other forms of trafficking such as forced and servile marriages,” Ms. Ezeilo said. “Despite official efforts to sensitising law enforcement officers on the issue of human trafficking, the identification of victims, especially domestic workers trafficked for labour exploitation still remains non-existent and problematic.” The independent expert also drew attention to the lack of comprehensive statistical information on prevalence rate, forms, trends and manifestation of human trafficking in the UAE. Attention has being focused almost exclusively on trafficking for sexual exploitation, making other forms of trafficking practically invisible and unrecognised by the general population, the authorities and the victims themselves. Victims right to compensationEven though current federal law penalises human trafficking, Ms. Ezeilo also noted, it does not include any provision for victims’ protection, assistance, recovery, rehabilitation or on their right to compensation. During her visit, the Special Rapporteur visited Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah, where she met with Federal and Emirate level government officials from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Labour, Interior, Justice, Social Affairs, and various other departments and agencies, including the National Committee to Combat Human Trafficking, the Judicial Department, Public Prosecution and the Police. She also met with victims of trafficking, including foreign workers at labour camps, and visited shelters set up for women and children victims. Ms. Ezeilo will present a comprehensive report with her findings and recommendations to the Council in June 2013.