New Release: 2022 Global Estimates of Modern Slavery (Human Trafficking)

The International Labour Organization (ILO), Walk Free and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) released the 2021 Global and Regional Estimates report. The estimates indicate that there are 50 million people living in situations of modern slavery on any given day, either forced to work against their will or in a marriage that they were forced into. This number translates to nearly one of every 150 people in the world. Through the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the global community has committed to ending modern slavery among children by 2025, and universally by 2030.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has heightened the risk of modern slavery and made the road to the 2025 and 2030 target dates an even more difficult one. The principal sources of data are from nationally representative household surveys – 68 forced labor surveys and 75 forced marriage surveys – jointly conducted by ILO and Walk Free, as well as the Counter Trafficking Data Collaborative (CTDC) anonymized case data set on victims of trafficking collected by IOM and its partners.

According to the report, Modern slavery refers to situations of exploitation that a person cannot refuse or leave because of threats, violence, deception, abuse of power or other forms of coercion. It comprises of two principal components – forced labour and forced marriage. The 2021 Global Estimates indicates that 49.6 million people are living in situations of modern slavery on any given day, either forced to work against their will or in a marriage that they were forced into. Forced labour accounts for 27.6 million of those in modern slavery and forced marriage for 22 million.

Forced labour as set out in the ILO Forced Labor Convention, 1930, refers to “all work or service which is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered himself voluntarily.” Women and girls make up 11.8 million of the total in forced labour. More than 3.3 million of all those in forced labor are children. A simple comparison with the 2016 global estimates indicates an increase of 2.7 million in the number of people in forced labour between 2016 and 2021. The initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic were accompanied by widespread reports of forced labour linked to the crisis.

Forced labor is highest in the Arab states at 5.3 per thousand people, compared to 4.4 per thousand in Europe and Central Asia, 3.5 per thousand in both America, Asia and Pacific regions and 2.9 per thousand in Africa. It is reported that 86% of all forced labour is imposed by private agents – 63% in forced labour and 23% in forced commercial sexual exploitation. State imposed forced labour accounts for the remaining 14% of people in forced labour. The initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic were accompanied by widespread reports of forced labour linked to the crisis. More than half of all forced labour occurs in either upper- middle income or high-income countries. People in forced labour are subjected to multiple forms of coercion to compel them to work against their will. Women in forced labour are much more likely than their male counterparts to be in domestic work. Migrant workers face a higher risk of forced labour than other workers. An estimated 6.3 million people are in situations of forced commercial sexual exploitation on any given day. This number includes 1.7 million children in commercial sexual exploitation. Over half of all children in forced labour are in commercial sexual exploitation. It is reported that 3.9 million people were in state-imposed forced labour at any point in time in 2021.

Forced marriage refers to situations where a person has been forced to marry without their consent. As set out in the joint general recommendations of the UN’s committee and the Committee on Rights of the Child (CRC), child marriage is considered a form of forced marriage.  An estimated 22 million people were living in forced marriage on any given day in 2021. Women and girls make up 14.9 million of this total. This is a 6.6 million increase in the number of people living in a forced marriage between 2016 and 2021. Nearly two-thirds of all forced marriages, an estimated 14.2 million, are in Asia and the Pacific. This is followed by 14.5 % in Africa (3.2 million) and 10.4 % in Europe and Central Asia (2.3 million). Women and girls subjected to forced marriage account for 14.9 million. Three in every five people in a forced marriage are in lower-middle income countries. It was noted that family members were responsible for the vast majority of forced marriages. Half of those living in forced marriages were coerced using emotional threats or verbal abuse. The report indicates that once they were forced to marry, there is a greater risk of sexual exploitation, violence and domestic servitude and other forms of forced labour.

It was noted that COVID-19 has exacerbated the underlying drivers of all forms of modern slavery including forced marriage.

In conclusion, some of the key policy priorities recommended for addressing forced labour and forced marriage in the lead up to the 2030 target date for ending modern slavery were mentioned as follows:

  • Respect for the freedom of workers to associate and to bargain collectively is indispensable to a world free from forced labour.
  • Extend social protection, including floors, to all workers and their families.
  • Promote fair and ethical recruitment.
  • Strengthen the reach and capacity of public labour inspectorates.
  • Ensure protection for people freed from forced labour.
  • Ensure access to remedy for people freed from forced labour.
  • Address migrant’s vulnerability to forced labour and trafficking for forced labour.
  • Address children trapped in forced labour.
  • Mitigate the heightened risk of forced labour and trafficking for forced labour in situations of crisis.
  • Legislative and policy responses should have a gendered lens as women and girls are disproportionately.
  • Ensure adequate civil and criminal protections in national legislation.
  • Address underlying social-cultural norms and structures that contribute to forced marriage.
  • Invest in building the agency for women and girls.
  • Protect the rights of those vulnerable to forced marriage and trafficking for forced marriage.
  • Address the vulnerability of migrants, particularly children.

Finally, it was acknowledged that reliable information and statistics on forced labour, forced marriage, and human trafficking are critical to promoting awareness and understanding of the problem, and to inform policy responses.

East African networks gaining more control on the entire trafficking value chain

As the international day for counter trafficking in persons fast approaches, the world is more than ever before confronted by a highly versatile, complex and unpredictable nature of trafficking networks, rings and the larger context of the organized crime syndicates globally.

Recalling a report released in 2020 by the Institute of Security Studies (ISS), the East African human trafficking rings have been on an expansion mission of their operations

During the same year (2020), ninety-six Ugandan women, mostly children and youth, were stopped at Nairobi’s international airport in January en route to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for work opportunities. The girls, who lacked proper employment papers, were victims of a well-established human trafficking ring in East Africa, headquartered in Kenya and operating under the guise of employment agencies. This wasn’t the first such interception. Almost every month, Kenya’s Directorate of Criminal Investigations reports at least one interception involving victims not only from Uganda but also Burundi, Rwanda and to a lesser extent Tanzania. Most of East Africa’s trafficking takes place in and through Kenya.

Traditionally the value chain of this criminal network has comprised three links. First are regionally based recruitment brokers who ferry people from their respective countries to Kenya. Second are the Kenyan-based links who ‘receive’ the people and act as the country’s employment agencies. They move victims from Kenya to the host country. Third are the counterparts who often pose as foreign employment agencies. They are stationed in the host country and ‘receive’ people sent from Kenya. Recent cases and new research by the ENACT organized crime project suggest a shift in the workings of the trafficking value chain as far as the third ‘link’ is concerned. There is evidence that the trafficking of women and girls from East Africa to the Middle East is now being carried out entirely by East Africans.

The East African countries appear to lack power in negotiations with Middle Eastern countries on trafficking issues. This is because of gaps in their domestic legislation and regional trafficking strategies. Yet other regions that export labour to the Middle East have shown that this can be done. For example, the Philippines has 23 bilateral agreements with seven countries – most of which are in the Middle East. This allows authorities to oversee the protection and safety of workers and prevent them being exploited by trafficking networks and employers in destination countries. The labour export sector makes up a very significant portion of the Philippines gross domestic product, yet it also comes with challenges and is not an economic cure-it-all. East Africa needs to learn from approaches elsewhere that prevent trafficking and protect workers. Until more robust responses are in place, trafficking and exploitation are likely to grow in the region. This perpetuates the vulnerability of poor women and girls and undermines the prospects of labour exportation as a livelihoods option.

The full report can be ACCESSED HERE

The Global Trafficking In Persons (TIP) Report July 2022

The global annual Trafficking in Persons report was released on Tuesday, 19th July (this week) at the U.S. Department of State. As stated in the Secretary of State’s message, “This year’s report is released in the midst of an unprecedented humanitarian crisis. Russia’s senseless continued invasion of Ukraine and its devastating attacks across that country have inflicted unfathomable pain and suffering and forced millions of Ukrainian citizens and others to flee seeking safety. We are deeply concerned about the risks of human trafficking faced by individuals internally displaced by the war, as well as those fleeing Ukraine, an estimated 90 percent of whom are women and children.”
Kateryna Cherepakha, president of La Strada Ukraine, has been honoured as one of six 2022 TIP Report Heroes, alongside Mohammed Tariqul Islam from Bangladesh, Major Mohammad al-Khlaifat from Jordan, Judge Cornelius Wennah from Liberia, Irena Dawid-Olczyk from Poland, and Apinya Tajit from Thailand. Congratulations to all!

During a recent conference in Rome, the Polish deputy Commander of the National Police reported that they had busted a human trafficking ring at the Ukraine-Polish border targeting the fleeing population. “The traffickers had presented themselves as volunteers seeking to help the fleeing children, girls and women, among others”, said the Polish police chief.

Focus on East Africa

The new report provides an updated data on the country specific performance index. The 2022 TIP report further revealed that not all Countries in the East African region are Party to the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime. These countries included Somalia, South Sudan and Uganda. The report therefore signified the need for the domestication of the Palermo protocol by the States.

Below is an executive summary of the East African country specific reports.

KENYA: TIER 2

The Government of Kenya does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so. The government demonstrated overall increasing efforts compared with the previous reporting period, considering the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on its anti-trafficking capacity; therefore, Kenya remained on Tier 2. These efforts included investigating more trafficking crimes, prosecuting and convicting significantly more traffickers, and identifying more trafficking victims. The government provided limited services to significantly more victims through partnerships with NGOs and reported dispersing more funds from the National Assistance Trust Fund for Assisting Victims of Trafficking to provide victim protection services and support an NGO-owned shelter.

The government also reported increasing services for victims participating in the criminal justice process, such as the ability to provide written testimonies, to prevent re-traumatization. However, the government did not meet the minimum standards in several key areas. Protection services for victims, particularly adults, remained limited and inconsistent in quality. The government continued to rely on civil society to provide most victim services, including all shelter services, and did not provide adequate in-kind or financial support to these efforts. Due to the lack of screening among vulnerable populations, including foreign migrants and individuals in commercial sex, and inadequate shelter availability, authorities sometimes detained or deported potential trafficking victims. Despite sustained concerns of official complicity in trafficking crimes, which hindered both law enforcement efforts and victim identification, the government did not report any law enforcement action against allegedly complicit officials. Government efforts to protect Kenyan trafficking victims abroad, particularly migrant workers, remained minimal, and the government did not report any efforts to hold fraudulent recruitment agencies criminally accountable for facilitating trafficking crimes

BURUNDI: TIER 2

The Government of Burundi does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so. The government demonstrated overall increasing efforts compared with the previous reporting period, considering the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on its anti-trafficking capacity; therefore, Burundi was upgraded to Tier 2. These efforts included increased investigations, prosecutions, and convictions of trafficking crimes, including investigating, and arresting allegedly complicit officials.

The government established the new Consultation and Monitoring Commission on Prevention and Repression of Trafficking in Persons (National Commission on Trafficking) to lead the government’s anti-trafficking efforts. It identified more trafficking victims among Burundian migrants abroad compared to the previous year and supported their repatriation, and it referred all identified victims to care. The government finalized and began to implement interim standard operating procedures (SOPs) to systematically identify and refer trafficking victims to appropriate care. It continued to operate a dedicated trafficking hotline, which led to the identification of potential trafficking cases. The government also took steps to increase protections for Burundian migrants abroad, including by establishing bilateral agreements with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). However, the government did not meet the minimum standards in several key areas. The government did not identify any trafficking victims in Burundi and largely relied on international and non-governmental partners to provide victim assistance. It did not develop a new national action plan (NAP). A lack of officials’ awareness on the trafficking law and the difference between migrant smuggling and human trafficking continued to impede successful investigation and prosecution of trafficking crimes.

CONGO, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE: TIER 2 WATCH LIST

The Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so. These efforts included finalizing standard operating procedures (SOPs) for victim identification and referral to services and partnering with NGOs to identify more trafficking victims. The government investigated, prosecuted, and convicted traffickers, including complicit officials.

The government’s Agency for the Prevention and the Fight Against Trafficking in Persons (APLTP) – led inter-ministerial committee and technical working group continued coordinating the government’s anti-trafficking response. However, the government did not demonstrate overall increasing efforts compared with the previous reporting period, even considering the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on its anti-trafficking capacity. Congolese National Army (FARDC) officers unlawfully recruited and used six children, including in combat roles, and continued coordinating with an armed group that recruited and used children, including potential trafficking victims, during the reporting period. Authorities penalized victims for unlawful acts traffickers compelled them to commit, and corruption and official complicity in trafficking crimes remained significant concerns. The government did not adopt comprehensive anti-trafficking legislation for the third consecutive year. Because the government has devoted sufficient resources to a written plan that, if implemented, would constitute significant efforts to meet the minimum standards, the DRC was granted a waiver per the Trafficking Victims Protection Act from an otherwise required downgrade to Tier 3. Therefore, the DRC remained on Tier 2 Watch List for the third consecutive year.

RWANDA: TIER 2  

The Government of Rwanda does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so. The government demonstrated overall increasing efforts compared with the previous reporting period, considering the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on its anti-trafficking capacity; therefore, Rwanda remained on Tier 2. These efforts included victim identification and referral to care, in partnership with an international organization; finalizing the updated national action plan (NAP); and implementing two ministerial orders establishing inter-agency responsibilities for responding to trafficking crimes against Rwandans overseas and providing them with protection services. The government also increased trafficking investigations and prosecutions. However, the government did not meet the minimum standards in several key areas. The government did not convict any traffickers during the reporting period. The government lacked a proactive standardized mechanism to adequately screen for potential trafficking victims among vulnerable populations and refer them to protective services.

SOUTH SUDAN

TIER 3 The Government of the Republic of South Sudan does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and, even considering the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, on the government’s anti-trafficking capacity, is not making significant efforts to do so; therefore, South Sudan remained on Tier 3. Despite the lack of significant efforts, the government took some steps to address trafficking, including convening its anti-trafficking inter-ministerial task force, finalizing the 2021-2023 National Action Plan (NAP) to Combat Trafficking, and conducting awareness activities.

However, during the reporting period, there was a government policy or pattern of employing and recruiting child soldiers. Government security and law enforcement officers continued to forcibly recruit and use child soldiers and did not hold any members of the South Sudan People’s Défense Forces (SSPDF) or South Sudan National Police Services (SSNPS) criminally accountable for these unlawful acts. Authorities did not report investigating or prosecuting any forced labour or sex trafficking crimes for the 10th consecutive year. The government did not report identifying or assisting any victims and continued to penalize victims for unlawful acts their traffickers compelled them to commit.

TANZANIA: TIER 2

The Government of Tanzania does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so. The government demonstrated overall increasing efforts compared with the previous reporting period, considering the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, if any, on its anti-trafficking capacity; therefore, Tanzania was upgraded to Tier 2. These efforts included investigating significantly more trafficking cases, convicting more traffickers, and identifying more trafficking victims. The government officially established and allocated funds to an expenditure account for the Anti-Trafficking Fund and provided more funding for anti-trafficking programs led by the Anti-Trafficking Secretariat (ATS).

The government, in partnership with international organizations, provided more training to law enforcement officials on victim-centered investigation practices and finalized the 2021-2024 anti-trafficking national action plan (NAP). However, the government did not meet the minimum standards in several key areas. Although the government convicted more traffickers during the reporting period, the lenient sentencing for the majority of convicted traffickers and the failure to sentence many convicted traffickers consistent with the 2008 anti-trafficking law weakened deterrence and did not adequately address the nature of the crimes. Due to inconsistent use of formal identification procedures and limited protection services, authorities reportedly deported, detained, and arrested potential trafficking victims, including children, for alleged prostitution or immigration violations without screening for trafficking indicators. Government efforts to protect Tanzanian trafficking victims abroad, particularly migrant workers, remained minimal, and the government did not report any efforts to hold fraudulent recruitment agencies criminally accountable for facilitating trafficking crimes.

UGANDA: TIER 2

The Government of Uganda does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so. The government demonstrated overall increasing efforts compared with the previous reporting period, considering the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, on its anti-trafficking capacity; therefore, Uganda was upgraded to Tier 2. These efforts included investigating and prosecuting more trafficking crimes; convicting the most traffickers ever reported in a single year; and developing robust standardized operating procedures (SOPs) for law enforcement and increasing trainings for investigators and prosecutors. Government officials increased use of the National Referral Guidelines for Management of Victims of Trafficking in Uganda (NRG), resulting in the government identifying more trafficking victims. For the first time in six years, the government reported directly assisting victims and referring victims to protection services.

The government enacted new employment regulations to increase the ethical recruitment of Ugandan migrant workers; the government implemented these regulations by investigating and suspending more recruitment companies engaging in fraudulent and exploitative recruitment activities. The government allocated significantly more funds for anti-trafficking activities. However, the government did not meet the minimum standards in several key areas. Access to adequate services for some victims, particularly adult males and individuals in rural areas, remained limited, and the lack of shelters in the country, both long-term and short-term, continued to adversely affect the government’s ability to adequately protect trafficking victims. The absence of victim-witness protection policies hindered some investigations and prosecutions; additionally, some law enforcement officials lacked a victim-centered approach when working with victims, potentially discouraging them from participating in criminal proceedings. Government efforts to protect Ugandan trafficking victims exploited abroad, particularly among migrant workers, remained minimal.

You can access the full REPORT HERE.

Buried alive (Organ Harvesting): Albinos pay the price for their skin

Despite majority of African countries illegalizing harvesting of body organs, the continent continues to be an epicenter of human trafficking for organ harvesting purposes. A 2021 report by Interpol showed North and West Africa to be the leading source market for the illegal trade due to impoverished communities and displaced populations being at greater risk of exploitation.

The report shows the human trafficking syndicates involved in organ trafficking in these regions have connections to the medical sector in countries from Africa and beyond, notably in Asia and the Middle East, with probable links on transplant tourism, where a patient travels abroad to buy an organ for illegal transplant or transplants performed in North Africa with organs illegally sourced in the region, or transplants done elsewhere with illegally sourced organs.

In 2021, Marriet Achieng from Kipsongo slums in Kitale town, Kenya, who scored 404 marks at Chetoto Primary School shocked many when she opted to sell one of her kidneys to finance her secondary school education. The 15-year-old girl said her mother was a hairdresser who could not afford to raise school fees to enable her join St Mary’s Girls High School, Bomet.

Asked how she could sell her organ, the girl said she was ready to look for a buyer and that she was willing to go through the surgical procedure to see her kidney removed. “I’m not worried about the procedure of removing it. My interest is to see that I get my secondary education school fees,” she added.

Achieng’s story is not unique in Kenya considering the number of people who have come out to “sell” their kidney to raise money during difficult times.

Organized criminal groups coerce the unemployed, migrants, asylum seekers and refugees into selling an organ with promises of job opportunities abroad, as well as use of threats and violence.

Just recently (early July 2022), a Nigerian senator and his wife were arrested in London and charged with trafficking a 15-year-old boy for the purpose of harvesting organs for their sick daughter. Senator Ike Ekweremadu, and his wife, Beatrice Nwanneka was accused of conspiring to transport a child to the United Kingdom (UK) for a kidney harvesting, with prosecutors claiming the child was coerced into donating one of his kidneys to the politician’s daughter.

The Albino story

It is however the facts/story around the people living with albinism in Africa that totally blows the imagination of human rights and dignity. Albinos face some of the most serious dangers in some parts of Africa, where experts say they are at risk of being trafficked for use in witchcraft rituals.

According to a recent report released by the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), people with albinism in Tanzania have a price on their heads - whether dead or alive, adults or children. The country is a source for all the trafficking routes in East and Southern Africa, where markets for their body parts prosper.

Those with the condition are socially alienated and stigmatized. Although crimes against people with albinism are under-reported, the high values attached to the illicit trade make this form of human trafficking one of the most lucrative and harmful.

Tanzania hosts the largest population of people with albinism worldwide

Albinism is a genetic condition where skin lacks the melanin pigment, making a person appear unusually light. While one out of 15 000 people in most African sub-regions has albinism, one out of 1.400 Tanzanians has the condition.

According to the April report, a complete set of albino organs in Tanzania is priced at about US$75 0000 by criminal networks serving wealthy clients. Children are said to be worth more.  A living albino costs US$340 000, according to Vicky Ntetema, an undercover investigative journalist. These values make the illicit trade in albinos one of the most lucrative and harmful forms of human trafficking worldwide.

Albinos in Tanzania live in constant fear of being maimed or even killed for the color of their skin. Brutal attacks on albinos are common-place, as black-market prices for their limbs, bones and organs can often be as high as thousands of dollars. The 'magic' is thought to be stronger if the body parts are taken while the victims, especially children, are conscious and alive. Albinos are targeted in four ways by criminal networks that include witch doctors, kidnappers, traffickers and killers: they can be kidnapped, trafficked from another village or country, killed and dismembered for body parts, or their graves may be exhumed and their organs removed.

The clients who buy these ‘products’ are wealthy, influential, and are from different parts of East and Southern Africa, including Tanzania and its immediate neighbors. It appears that most are politicians seeking re-election and business magnates who believe that potions made from albino body parts will make their enterprises thrive, according to ISS.

When a wealthy client dies, albinos are sourced to serve him in his afterlife. In the most bizarre practice of this superstition, a dead client is buried with four live albinos – two on either side of the deceased body, which is laid on their laps.

Most attacks against people with albinism occur in the rural areas of Tanzania, especially in the Victoria, Tanganyika, Nyasa and other smaller lake regions. The towns of Kagera, Geita, Chato, Shinyanga, Singida and Mwanza are hotspots.

Unlike in urban centers, it is hard to detect when a person with albinism is killed in villages in rural areas. Communities believe that albinos ‘disappear’ and do not die, says Wazambi, and so do not report their missing relatives to the authorities.

There are three active albino trafficking routes in the East and Southern African regions, says Ntetema: Tanzania-Malawi-Burundi-Kenya; Tanzania-Mozambique-South Africa; and Tanzania-Swaziland-South Africa. Tanzania features in all these routes as a source country, but albinos are targeted in all these countries by the criminal networks who control the trade. The networks act independently but also work together to exchange organs and charms.

Trafficking and killing of people with albinism occur where government services are often absent or ineffective

During his presidential election campaign in 2015, the late John Magufuli vowed to end the killing of albinos and pledged that government officers would be held personally responsible if any took place.

Despite Magufuli’s stance, killings continued, some are reported and many more are unreported. In 2021, four killings of albinos were reported by the human rights organisations Under the Same Sun and the Legal and Human Rights Centre. A boy of six was discovered mutilated in Kigoma city in May, while a woman was killed in Tabora municipality. And two graves exhumed in October in Tanga and Arusha cities revealed bodies that had been desecrated and were missing their left legs.

In other African countries, albino killings have reportedly increased with the COVID-19 pandemic as more people have fallen into poverty and turned to the organ trade to make money. International advocacy campaigns by human rights organizations and the United Nations aim to raise awareness about the threats faced by albinos worldwide. These campaigns focus on influencing and instituting effective policy and protective frameworks at national levels.

But it is difficult to institute interventions for what can be described as a ‘silent crime’. Albino trafficking and killing occur in places where government services are often absent or ineffective. There is also less advocacy at these local levels due to traditions, customs and superstitions, leaving robust criminal networks to operate unfettered.

Political stances such as Magufuli’s are to be encouraged. Yet these remain political rhetoric if not accompanied by local-level advocacy. This advocacy, which may be spearheaded by the media and civil society, would need to focus on shifting the perspectives on albinism. This shift would decrease the stigmatization and create counter-narratives that break down beliefs that enable the silent, deadly trade in people with albinism. Such campaigns are insufficient on their own, however – local-level leaders who vocally support these initiatives are needed to change mindsets, along with district and national-level support through law enforcement and policy frameworks.

The National Anti-Trafficking in Persons Plan of Action 2021-2024 launched in March is a commitment in the right direction. However, an additional and urgent focus is specific legislation on organ trafficking that will support its 2008 Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act in Tanzania. And Tanzania is not alone, countries across the East and Southern African are necessary partners in the detection and prosecution of crimes in their own countries and in the cross-border trade in people with albinism.

Olympic star, Sir Mo Farah, reveals he was trafficked to the U.K. as a child

Domestic Slavery

Sir Mo Farah, a renowned and award-winning British Olympic athlete revealed in a recent BBC and Red Bull Studios documentary that he was brought to the U.K. when he was nine years old and forced to work as a domestic servant.

His account of human trafficking and modern slavery has sparked an urgent conversation about how trafficking can occur, how the hostile immigration environment in the U.K. prevents people from coming forward, and the urgent need for better protection mechanisms for victims and survivors.

Mo Farah’s story

As a child, Farah was brought to the U.K. from his home in Somaliland by a woman he didn’t know. He was told that he was to no longer use his real name, Hussein Abdi Kahin, and was now to adopt the name of Mohammed Farah. She told him that if he ever wanted to see his family again, he would keep quiet.

From that point on, Farah’s childhood was spent in domestic servitude, cooking, cleaning and looking after the woman’s children. “For years I just kept blocking it out. But you can only block it out for so long,” the athlete reflects.

For the first few years, the family he stayed with wouldn’t allow him to go to school, but when he was about 12 years old, he enrolled at Feltham Community College in West London. Staff were told that Farah was a refugee from Somalia. His former teacher, Sarah Rennie, tells the BBC that he arrived at the school “unkempt and uncared for,” spoke very little English, and was an “emotionally and culturally alienated” child.

Eventually, Farah’s sports teacher, Alan Watkinson, noticed a transformation in the youngster when he hit the athletic track. “The only language he seemed to understand was the language of physical education and sports,” he says.

Sports as a lifeline

Farah says sports was a lifesaver for him, since “the only thing I could do to get away from this [living situation] was to get out and run.”  Eventually, he confided to Watkinson his true identity and background, and that he was forced to work for a family. Watkinson contacted social services, who placed Farah with another Somali family.

“I still missed my real family, but from that moment everything got better.  I felt like a lot of stuff was lifted off my shoulders, and I felt like me. That’s when Mo came out – the real Mo.”

Farah began to make a name for himself as an athlete and at age 14 was invited to compete for English schools in a race in Latvia. However, he had no travel documents. Watkinson helped him apply for British citizenship, granted in July 2000, under the name Mohamed Farah.

Reuniting with his family

 As he gained visibility in the Somali community, a woman approached him in a London restaurant and gave him a tape. It contained a recorded message for Farah from someone he hadn’t heard from in a long time: his mother, Aisha.

His mother there tells him the origin of their journey: “We were living in a place with nothing, no livestock and the land was destroyed. We all thought we were dying. All we heard was ‘Boom, boom, boom’. I sent you away because of the war. I sent you with your uncle to Djibouti so you would have something.”

The reality for trafficking victims in the U.K.

Farah says he wants to tell his story to challenge public perceptions of trafficking and slavery. “I had no idea there were so many people going through exactly the same thing I did. It just goes to show how lucky I was,” he says.

We are grateful to Sir Mo Farah for his immense bravery in coming forward to share his experiences. It is disheartening that despite the trauma he experienced as a young child, Farah still risked legal repercussions from the Home Office for disclosing his truth. While the Home Office issued a statement saying they would not take action against Farah, this is not the reality for many others like him. Instead, the Home Office routinely detains, deports and punishes trafficking victims rather than supporting them.

ALL trafficking victims and survivors deserve support and being an exceptional athlete should not be a prerequisite to accessing your rights.

International Counter Trafficking in Persons Day, 30th July: The Genesis

Since medieval history, human beings still practiced not so good social-cultural lifestyles such as forced marriages, female genital mutilations, debt bondage and slavery; to name but a few. The human behaviour and the socio-cultural practices have over the centuries transformed and changed with the industrial revolution and the modern societal practices as understood today.

Towards the end of the 20th century, slave trade was assumed to be a thing of the past and all civilized societies demonstrated increased degrees of freedoms and adherence to universal declaration on the human rights as guided by the United Nations’ resolutions.

But alas! In mid-1900’s, Human trafficking had started to pick up momentum as a lucrative criminal enterprise whose sole purpose was profiteering. By the year 2000, at Palermo, Italy, the whole world acknowledged that indeed human trafficking had become a thorn on the life humanity and it had exemplified itself as modern-day slavery. The Palermo protocol therefore marked the first major global effort to develop an international instrument that championed a collective effort by UN Member States.

Every country in the world is affected by human trafficking

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Human trafficking is a crime that exploits women, children and men for numerous purposes including forced labour and sex. Since 2003 the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has collected information on about 225,000 victims of trafficking detected worldwide. Globally countries are detecting and reporting more victims and are convicting more traffickers. This can be the result of increased capacity to identify victims and/or an increased number of trafficked victims.

In 2006, responding to the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) request for intergovernmental agencies to further cooperate in order to strengthen technical assistance provided to countries in the area of human trafficking, the Government of Japan hosted a coordination meeting of international organizations working to counter trafficking in persons. The participating organizations (ILO, IOM, UNICEF, UN Women, UNHCR and UNODC) decided to continue the effort initiated and proposed the creation of a coordination group. The Inter-Agency Coordination Group Against Human Trafficking (ICAT) was formally established in March 2007.

In 2010, the UN General Assembly adopted the Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons, urging Governments worldwide to take coordinated and consistent measures to defeat this scourge. The Plan calls for integrating the fight against human trafficking into the UN’s broader programmes in order to boost development and strengthen security worldwide. One of the crucial provisions in the Plan is the establishment of a UN Voluntary Trust Fund for victims of trafficking, especially women and children.

The Trust Fund facilitates effective, on-the-ground assistance and protection to victims of trafficking, through grants to specialized NGOs. It aims to prioritize victims coming from a context of armed conflict and those identified among large refugee and migration flows.

In 2013, the General Assembly held a high-level meeting to appraise the Global Plan of Action. Member States also adopted resolution A/RES/68/192 and designated July 30 as the World Day against Trafficking in Persons. This resolution declared that such a day was necessary to “raise awareness of the situation of victims of human trafficking and for the promotion and protection of their rights.”

In September 2015, the world adopted the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda and embraced goals and targets on trafficking in persons. These goals call for an end to trafficking and violence against children; as well as the need for measures against human trafficking, and they strive for the elimination of all forms of violence against and exploitation of women and girls.

Another important development is the UN Summit for Refugees and Migrants, which produced the ground breaking New York Declaration. Of the nineteen commitments adopted by countries in the Declaration, three are dedicated to concrete action against the crimes of human trafficking and migrant smuggling.

Every country in the world is affected by human trafficking, whether as a country of origin, transit, or destination for victims. Traffickers the world over continue to target women and girls. The vast majority of detected victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation and 35 per cent of those trafficked for forced labour are female. Conflict further exacerbates vulnerabilities, with armed groups exploiting civilians and traffickers targeting forcibly displaced people.

Cascading Of The Oversight And Community Feedback Mechanism Trainings At County And Community Levels Report

Background

CHTEA is a member of a technical advisory committee appointed by the minister for Labour to steer a project called, “Fostering Recruitment Agencies’ Ethical Practices and Accountability & Supporting the Government of Kenya to Pilot a Recruitment Oversight Mechanism to prevent trafficking in persons”. This project is funded by IOM and it takes a multi-stakeholder approach that will contribute to the transformation of the recruitment industry in Kenya towards ethical recruitment practices.

The project is expected to support the creation of sustainable business models for recruitment of migrant workers that are consistent with international ethical recruitment standards. It will also address the drivers of human trafficking by enhancing ethical recruitment services on the supply side, while piloting an oversight mechanism with the National Employment Authority (NEA) to monitor and report unscrupulous practices by recruitment agencies.

In order to achieve the purpose of this project, IOM has been running a series of trainings to create awareness at the community level. CHTEA is currently identified as a trainer in this project, (among others organization) to offer skills transfer to a target audience that includes local administration (the chiefs), the Community Health Volunteers (CHVs), the clergy and Community based organizations.  The first such training took place at the Sarova Stanley hotel on April 21st – 22nd 2022

Qatar Migrant Workers Describe ‘Pathetic’ Conditions.

By Stephen Fottrell
BBC News

Image source,
AP Image caption,
Working and housing conditions of the 1.5 million migrant workers constructing buildings in Qatar ahead of the 2022 World Cup have been heavily criticized.

The Gulf state has made little progress on improving migrant workers' rights, despite promises to do so, according to the rights group Amnesty International. Qatar disputes the claims and says improvements have been made. Here, we speak to three construction workers who have worked on sites in Qatar recently. They describe the conditions there as "pathetic" and "oppressive".

'Frank' (not his real name), 30, from Kenya

"I came to Qatar from Kenya last June to work on the construction sites here.I got the work through an agency. I was paid $350 (£223) a month when I got here, which was a lot less than I was promised. I also spent a lot to get here - over $1,000.

I worked at sites building government schools near [the capital] Doha from June to November last year. There are a lot of infrastructure projects going on here, alongside the World Cup venues”.

 

Image caption, "Frank" sent this picture of the construction site he worked on near Doha

The main site that I worked on was not a good environment. The majority of the workers are uneducated, and the companies take advantage of them, so they cannot negotiate. They just become helpers and are badly paid. Many just end up accepting it, as they cannot go back to their home countries, because they are supporting their families.

I am sending money back to my family. They are all looking to me, but I can't tell them what it is like here, or they would tell me to come home. When I arrived, I was told that I would be working as an electrician, even though I am not trained, which is dangerous. I got an electric shock on the site once, but thankfully I was OK.

Conditions on the sites are very bad. You work all day out in the open in extreme heat. You start at 04:00 and work all day. There is no cold drinking water on the site, just hot water. It is very oppressive.

Image caption, "Frank" working on a site near Doha, Qatar

No-one will listen if you complain. We once went on strike because we weren't paid for a month. We were eventually paid, but the management didn't care about our complaints. Life in Qatar is very expensive. The accommodation is provided through the company, but food and general living expenses make it hard to save anything. I try to send home what I can.

As for the accommodation, I would describe the conditions as pathetic. In the first place I stayed, Al Khor, there were 10 people to one small room, with five bunk beds and nowhere to put anything. The toilets were outside. It was all very inadequate and uncomfortable. You also have to hand over your passport on arrival, so you can't leave. You feel trapped, like a prisoner.

Media caption,
Mark Lobel reports: ''Our arrest was dramatic - eight cars drove us off the road'' I am now staying in a place called Industrial - where most of the migrant workers live. The hygiene here is very poor. There are five to a room, which is a bit better, but it is not hygienic. I now work in a mall in sales after being allowed to leave my job at the construction sites. It is a bit better, but still not great. Life is very hard here. I would like to see the lives of migrant workers here change. It's just a sacrifice now. There need to be improvements made to safety, salaries and accommodation."

'John' (not his real name), from Ghana

"I am a truck driver working on the site of a new port project near Doha. I came here from Ghana a year and a half ago. Honestly speaking, we are suffering badly at the hands of our employers, especially in the summer time, as it is now. It is 40-50C here during the day, but there is no air conditioning in our vehicles, and we are breathing sandy air. At times the dust and sand flows in the air like snow.

There is nobody to fight for us. For almost two months now, my company has refused to pay our salaries. Our company is killing us because they don't want to give us the little reward we deserve.

My salary of $550 a month is very low for a driver like me. We have no days off to rest. This not only applies to me - it is the same with every worker at my company.I start at 05:00 and work until 19:00, with two hours of transportation to the site and back each day.

Image source, AFP Image caption, There are an estimated 1.5 million migrant workers currently in Qatar

Qatar has a labour office, but if you report your company, they will definitely send you back to your country. So everyone is too scared to report any problems. I'm an orphan from a poor home. I couldn't finish my secondary school education. I have been living in cabins in camps, separated by plywood. Almost all of the workers staying in these camps, are poor and come from countries in Africa and Asia, like Nepal, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. We all experience the same problems.

About 15-20% of the workers here have achieved some quality of living standard, with a good salary, due to their educational background, or they have been able to get work through good foreign companies. But for the rest of us, the payment of salaries is a real headache. How I wish I could save enough money to leave here to get to Europe or the US.

That's my ambition, because in Ghana, even graduates don't have work, so imagine how hard it is for people like me who had to drop out of school."

Stephen Ellis, from Widnes, UK, worked on a World Cup site in Doha in March

"I worked on one of the World Cup sites in Doha at the end of March. I left after two weeks, because the conditions were an absolute disgrace. I work as a pipe fitter and supervisor and have been on construction sites all over the world. These were the worst conditions I've ever seen on any site. Most of the workers at the site where I worked were Indian. They are treated very badly, and the conditions in which they live and work are terrible.

Image source, AP Image caption, The Qatar Foundation stadium in Doha is one of the venues for the 2022 tournament

There is no drinking water available, there is no air conditioning in their cabins - and this was in 45C heat. They have filthy sanitation, and the food is dished out like in the Oliver Twist movie. However, what's even worse is the on-site safety, or lack of it. It does not exist, and my friends and I, who went to work there together, were horrified at the risks taken every day on the site.

We were told that before we started there, one Indian worker had been killed.

The site was run totally by Indians, and they were treating their own people very, very badly. But the upper management did not seem to care. They were just turning a blind to it all. We were told by English managers that if we didn't like it to leave, so we did. There were also other Brits, along with myself, who were treated just as badly.

We were paid a lot more than the Indian workers - they were on about $50 a week, and we were on closer to $33 an hour - but we were still ripped off because we left early."

 

‘Lest We Forget’: Commemorating The International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade

Introduction

As the global counter trafficking in persons’ institutions ready themselves for the commemoration of their efforts on 30th July, it would be refreshing to be reminded of our own human history that informed this criminal practice. It is our hope and desire that we shall continue to pull together and deal with both the pull and push factors which seem to sustain the criminal endevours of perpetrators.

A historical perspective

25th of Mach 2022 was set aside by The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade. The objective of this day is to enlighten the general public about the tragedy of the slave trade and to engrave the tragedy of the slave trade in the memory of all peoples; The day is viewed as an opportunity to reflect on those that suffered and perished at the hands of slavery, but also as an occasion to raise awareness to the world’s youth about the dangers of racism and prejudice.

The Genesis of Transatlantic Trade

In 1441, Prince Harry of Portugal sent Gonçalves, his captain to the coast of West Africa to bring back a cargo of seal skins and oils. The captain was inexperienced and hence was only sent to bring mundane things. However, he was ambitious; as the ship approached the coast of Mauritania in West Africa, Gonçalves decided to impress the prince by taking back what he knew was his true desire-Slaves. He expected that the prince would reward him highly. And so on his way back, Gonçalves together with his men loaded the caravel with the captives as well as the skins and oils they had been sent to gather, and sailed back to Portugal.

This episode marked the beginnings of an era of European exploration that brought the continents of Europe and Africa into contact with one another through forced transatlantic migrations from Africa to Europe, and eventually to the Caribbean and North and South America. In the 1440s, Gonçalves and other Portuguese explorers began a process that created an Atlantic world connected in ways that it had never been before. This traversing of trade routes and the introduction of African slaves into a new world shaped the lives and experiences of millions of Africans, Europeans, and Native Americans who met on the shores of America. The trade lasted up until 1807 and majority of the captives were collected from West and Central Africa

Remembering the Victims of Slavery

The victims of the transatlantic slave trade endured a series of catastrophic events; they were separated from home, family and nearly all things familiar; captured in the African interior, transported to the coast; sold to slave traders; passed the sea in conditions of squalor and indescribable horror (it is estimated that, out of the 12.5 million enslaved Africans, 1.8 million died during their voyage). The enslavement tested the spirit and will of men, women and children who struggled to find meaning and happiness in a new world order.

Behind the facts and figures are millions of human stories. The stories of those who were ripped from their homelands and families. The stories of those who fought against their oppressors. The stories of those who triumphed against all odds to win their freedom. Those stories continue today as people across the globe keep struggling together against the transatlantic slave trade’s most enduring legacy – racism.

It has always been presumed that the West has been economical with the truth as to the fact that their economies were largely constructed by the sweat, tears and blood of slavery captives. And as the world continues, year in, year out to commemorate the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, all efforts need to endevour towards collaboration and to renew the collective resolve to tackle modern day slavery. This year’s theme was, “Stories of Courage: Resistance to Slavery & Unity Against Racism”.

References

United Nations. (2022, March 25). Outreach Programme on the Transatlantic Slave Trade and Slavery. Retrieved from United Nations: https://www.un.org/en/rememberslavery/observance/2022

Williams, H. A. (2014). American Slavery; A Very Short Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press.

 

Report On The Santa Marta Group Global Conference

Venue: The Pontifical Academy for Social Sciences, Rome (Vatican City State), Italy
Date: 17th – 19th May 2022
Prepared by: Mutuku Nguli, Vice Chair, SMG-A

Pope Francis speaks to those attending an international conference of the Santa Marta Group at the Vatican May 19, 2022. The Santa Marta Group is an alliance of leaders of various law enforcement, government and civic and religious organizations to share their expertise, experience and best practices in the task of preventing and combating human trafficking and modern forms of slavery. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

Introduction

The Santa Marta Group is an alliance of International police chiefs and bishops from around the world working together with civil society in a process endorsed by Pope Francis, to eradicate human trafficking and modern-day slavery. The Pope describes trafficking as “an open wound on the body of contemporary society”.

The Group is led by His Excellency Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster.

It was named after the Papal residence where the participants from the Vatican Conference stayed in April 2014 and resulted in a signed ‘Declaration of Commitment’ by all the Chiefs of Police present to work together on the International stage to develop strategies in prevention, pastoral care and the re-integration.

The objective of the Group is to combine the resources of the Church with those of Law Enforcement Agencies to prevent trafficking and modern-day slavery, provide pastoral care to victims and assist them with re-integration in the host community for safe return.

Preface

The 2022 Santa Marta Group International Conference took place May 17-19 May at the Pontifical Academy for Social Sciences at the Vatican. The conference brought together a global audience of Cardinals, Bishops, Priests, the Religious, Security experts (police chiefs, investigators, Judicial Officers and Non-Governmental Organizations.

The conference convenor, His Grace, Cardinal Vincent Nichols had initially targeted a large global audience but due to the Covid-19 changing environment, the numbers were reduced to a bare minimum in order to be accommodated at one location inside the Vatican.

In that respect therefore, Santa Marta Group Africa convenor, Fr Mark Odion in consultation with the SMG Director, Dr David Ryall provided for one slot for the SMG-A group. Mr. Francis Mutuku Nguli, the Vice Chair was nominated to present a paper in respect of the work done in Africa. Besides, one Arch-Bishop, a Bishop and two Congregational leaders (Nuns) from Nigeria were also in attendance. Lady Justice Roselyn Naliaka Nambuye from the Court of Appeal in Kenya was also invited to provide an insight on the Rule of Law and Protecting the Vulnerable.

Looking into the future with lessons learnt: The Papal reflection

According to the Holy Father, Pope Francis, since the Santa Marta Group was established in 2014, it has “devoted itself to fostering an ever-greater understanding of the scope and nature of human trafficking and to strengthening cooperation on the international, national and local levels so that effective ways to end this scourge may be found and that its victims may receive needed care, both physically and spiritually,” the pope said.

“Sadly, modern forms of slavery continues to spread,” even in wealthier nations, he said.

The Pope said he hoped the fight against human trafficking would expand its scope and include promoting “the responsible use of technology and social media, as well as the need for a renewed ethical vision of our political, economic and social life, one centered not on profit but on persons.”

The global conference focused on exploring “what works, what doesn’t work and how the Santa Marta Group can make good on its initial promise to bring decision-makers together from around the world to share their experiences and initiatives, learn from each other and find solutions to human trafficking.”

Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster, England and the President of the Santa Marta Group explained that the aim of the conference was “to refocus and re-energize activities in light of a worsening situation across the world caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and continuing conflict and instability in many regions,” he said, and to create an “action plan that will help to guide local and regional activity” and “the way forward for Santa Marta Group over the coming year.” The action plan includes efforts for prevention, education, listening to victims and strengthening collaboration between the church and civil society.

The cardinal said attention must be on healing the wounds of victims and defending their dignity.

During the conference, Fr Mark Odion, Coordinator SMG-Africa Region and Mr. Mutuku Nguli, SMG-Africa Vice Chair presented a paper titled; “A review of the African Church Context in Combating Human Trafficking.” Another African representative from Kenya, Lady Justice Roselyn Nambuye (Court of Appeal) presented a paper on the “Rule of Law and Protecting the Vulnerable.”

 

Group photo: SMG global conference at the Vatican city, Rome Italy.

Mr. Mutuku Nguli presenting at the conference.