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Countering Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants through the Better Migration Management Programme in 2021

Nairobi, Kenya, 14 January 2022 – The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) within the framework of the Regional Programme for Eastern Africa (2016-2021) is implanting the second phase of the Better Migration Management (BMM) programme funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the European Union (EU) Emergency Trust Fund for Africa (EUTF).

More than 10 million people in and around the Horn of Africa have been forcibly displaced within their own countries, or are seeking refuge in neighbouring states. In the absence of effective and regularised migration mechanisms and infrastructure, Trafficking in Persons (TIP) and Smuggling of Migrants (SOM) are widespread, resulting in the exploitation, violation and death of countless people across the region. Countering and prosecuting the criminal networks responsible for trafficking and smuggling people require effective legislation, capacity and cooperation between countries of origin, transit and destination.

The BMM programme aims at improving the management of safe, orderly and regular migration in the region and to support national authorities in countering TIP and SOM within and from the Horn of Africa including in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Somalia, Sudan and South Sudan. As implementing partner and as guardian of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC) and its supplementary Protocols, in particular the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children and Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, UNODC focuses extensively on supporting beneficiary countries to align their national legislation on TIP and SOM with the provisions of the Convention and Protocols, and to enhance the capacity of criminal justice practitioners to effectively investigate and prosecute TIP and SOM cases with a victim-centered and human rights-based approach.

Achievements from 2021 include UNODC supported the Counter-Trafficking in Persons Secretariat (CTIP Secretariat) in Kenya with the review of the TIP act. In Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan and Uganda, UNODC assisted relevant stakeholders with the development of Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) to improve police-prosecutors cooperation to counter TIP and SOM cases. Furthermore, UNODC supported the Anti-Trafficking and Child Protection Unit (AHTCPU) in Nairobi and Mombasa, Kenya, as well as the Anti-Trafficking Unit in Uganda with the investigation of 11 cases of TIP and SOM. Overall, UNODC successfully trained 435 first-line responders and criminal justice practitioners (including 198 female responders and practitioners) in Eastern Africa and the Horn of Africa region to detect, investigate and prosecute TIP and SOM.

For more information please contact:

Mr. Johan Kruger (johan.kruger@un.org)

Head of Transnational Organized Crime, Illicit Trafficking and Terrorism Programmes

UNODC Regional Office for Eastern Africa