How anti-trafficking organizations in East Africa are mobilizing during Covid-19

Kenya's CHTEA mobilizes government departments and CSOs to respond to the pandemic, Uganda's Willow International provides emergency help for survivors, and 30 anti-child-trafficking organizations form an alliance in Tanzania.

Lucy Muna (left side) is a HAART Kenya community mobilizer from Nairobi County; Kamkunji sub county. She is championing the Stop of Violence against women, which is on the rise due to the COVID 19 measures to stay at home.

The advent of COVID-19 has brought about an unprecedented situation in Africa and around the world since early 2020. With several million reported infections around the globe, many countries have implemented restrictions of both movement and interaction at all levels of societal life.

Calls with CSOs in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania to discuss the impact of COVID-19 on their activities

During April and May, Freedom Collaborative engaged with CSOs in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, via virtual discussions led by civil society communities and anti-trafficking coalitions in Kenya and Uganda, and by Terre des Hommes in Tanzania.

The conversations were very productive and led to a collective consensus that monthly calls were needed to help practitioners engage and collaborate on specific activities, as well as provide support during this pandemic.

The Kenya conversation led to the release of an official statement by Stop The Traffik Kenya (STTK), a subsequent call to discuss funding opportunities, and the launch of an online repository for information and funding resources during the pandemic.

In Tanzania, the call led to subsequent discussions between CSOs, as well as an official statement released and shared with the government. This call was the first of its kind among CSOs, and led to a recognition of the value of continuous engagement and collaboration.

Subjects discussed in all countries included emerging trafficking trends as a result of the pandemic, and the challenges of curfews, restricted movement, social distancing restrictions, restriction of travel and victims stranded abroad. There were also discussions on the ways in which additional support could be provided for survivors of trafficking who had been successfully reintegrated back into their communities but are now facing operational business challenges. It was revealed that there has been a lack flexibility in some cases, in which donors have not approved the idea of re-allocating funds to other more pressing activities (food provision for vulnerable groups who have lost their jobs as a result of the pandemic, for instance).

And, in Tanzania in particular, practitioners talked about the ways in which the CSO community should work together to protect street children during this pandemic and how to limit their risk of contracting the virus.

Kenya

Kenya imposed its first set of restrictions on 27 March 2020 in the form of a dusk-to-dawn curfew. This action was followed by restrictions of movement within specific counties under a 'cessation of movement'.

HAART Kenya community mobilizers and youth team (Young@HAART) efforts and support during the COVID 19 pandemic period

Several HAART Kenya community mobilizers have been actively engaged in providing support services to communities in responding to the COVID 19 pandemic within their localities. Some of the mobilizers have collaborated with few community members and consolidated resources to support families that are not able to cater for their basic needs during this period. Others are working as community health workers by sensitizing their communities on preventive measures. They are also helping with disinfecting public spaces, and issuing protective packages (face masks, hand sanitizers, and handwashing soaps) to community members.

The mobilizers regularly receive information from HAART Kenya and its networks on available support services offered for victims affected with different issues such as Gender Based Violence, emergency services for pregnant women among others including human trafficking. They share the information on their social media pages and other established community networks.

They have also been updating the organization on how communities are affected by the pandemic and continuous identification of trafficking cases, and occurring trends as well as sensitizing community members on keeping safe with the situation. Constant check-ups and follow-ups are conducted weekly through phone calls for updates from the mobilizers. Please find HAART's full update here.

Candle of Hope’s Awareness campaigns on FGM as grounds for human trafficking

Due to governments’ directives that require citizens to stay at home to help contain the spread of COVID 19, many institutions such as worship centres, schools, hotels etc. have been shut.

In Somalia, reports indicated that since schools were closed, there has been a huge upsurge in female genital mutilation (FGM), which is one of the most extreme violence against girls and women. The rising cases have further been attributed by the restrictions on movement which has made it harder to raise awareness of the dangers of FGM.

Over the years, research has linked FGM in Somalia to child marriage, forced sexual debut among other sexual slavery. As a result, many of these girls are often trying to find ways of escaping these torturous ordeals, making them easy targets for human trafficking.

Unfortunately, data regarding trafficking in Somalia remains very difficult to obtain or verify since trafficking routes (source, transit and destination) are particularly undefined; although it is understood that most of the victims’ destination are Kenya Europe, Gulf States, Canada and the USA. Most victims are recruited by women (who mostly are known to them) for the purpose of domestic servitude or sex trafficking.

For that reason, Candle of Hope Foundation through their Hope for the Horn Initiative, have intensified their awareness campaigns by distributing information materials in Berbera. These materials are meant to help promote empowerment among women and cautioning the communities on the dangers of FGM, its underlying risks as well as the role the practice plays in the increasing cases of human trafficking. Read Candle of Hope’s full update here.

CHTEA’s response to the COVID-19 situation

The Counter Human Trafficking Trust-East Africa (CHTEA) considered the situation with urgency and carried out a quick analysis of how the lockdown would affect interventions related to counter human trafficking. In the ensuing internal discussions and consultations, CHTEA reached out to a number of key actors/partners whose role would remain significant in counter-trafficking efforts. The first category among these was government-affiliated institutions – the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) and the Counter Trafficking in Persons (CTiP) Secretariat. The DCI was considered to be an important ally in supporting emergency response during this period since they could navigate restriction orders and so help to rescue and re-unite trafficked victims. The DCI was also considered crucial in case there was need to get victims tested for COVID-19 before being placed in shelters. An engagement process led to a mutual agreement between CHTEA and the DCI to collaborate henceforth.

The CTiP Secretariat was mobilized to help liaise and coordinate with other units of government, such as the Department of Children Services, to support cross-border facilitation through the Department for Immigration and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and to create an enabling environment during the entire COVID-19 period of restrictions.

The other category of actors/partners was civil society organisations (CSOs). To this end, CHTEA considered it important to reach out to other groups with a view to discussing the emerging dynamics related to COVID-19. A successful online Zoom meeting was convened, courtesy of Liberty Shared. The meeting brought together most of the CSOs in Kenya and made it possible to take a collective review of the situation and create a strategy to forge a collective process for working together. A short time after this meeting, CSOs began working together to apply for funding and a portal was created as a deposit for any future requests for proposal discussions.

Even though indicators point to a re-opening of the Kenyan economy, it is still too early to think that Kenya would revert to her previous state, as before Covid-19. A lot of thinking will be required to situate the correct strategy in future operations as the Covid-19 reality becomes the ‘new normal’.

Stop the Traffik Kenya’s Activities:

Thanks to Mr Mutuku Nguli and Ms Shukri Hussein we had a successful call on 3 April. A big thank you to all who could join in. The report from this call will be available later this week.

Thanks to Liberty Shared we had a successful call on 15 April to discuss the Global Fund to End Modern Slavery (GFEMS) funding opportunity. A big thank you to all who could join in.

Thanks to the East African Child Rights Network (EACRN), who facilitated a regional CSO call to discuss the ways in which organizations in East Africa can address human trafficking issues together during this COVID-19 period.

Thanks to Stop the Traffik Kenya’s Steering Committee, which shared an official statement on behalf of STTK on 8 April 2020.

STTK hosted a Learning Call on Community Engagement During the COVID-19 Period on 14 May at 10am. This call was facilitated by Ms Veronica Mwangi, Deputy Director at the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR).
STTK, in partnership with Liberty Shared, is engaging with CSOs in Kenya on scaling up the Mapping of Risky Trafficking and Migration Routes.

Uganda

Willow International’s response to the COVID-19 crisis

Activities implemented

Survivors have been provided by Willow International with online counseling, medical care, basic life skills training and an online follow-up session. Our program has shifted to meet immediate needs, such as the provision of food and medical care for graduates who are now unable to work, and survivors in our community-based care program.
Survivors whose court cases were ongoing have been given representation in court.

Challenges

The country has been on a complete lockdown. Both public and private transportation has been banned. Staff have been unable to carry out field activities such as home assessment, business evaluations, family tracing and home visits, which has led to the extension of the beneficiary care plan. Members of our shelter staff have volunteered to stay and work at our shelters throughout the quarantine. They are unable to leave the shelters.
The first responder’s prevention activities that were supposed to be conducted in March and April were postponed, even though mobilization of government officials had been done and bookings for the venue, etc. had been made.
Case managers have not been able to conduct one-on-one counseling sessions or group sessions with clients, and they have been limited to online counseling which survivors, especially children, are not used to.
During the online counseling sessions, survivors are not free to express themselves fully because their relatives are also at home.
Survivors on community basic care have been walking long distances to access medical help and those on antiretroviral (ARV) therapy have not been receiving their treatment on time.
Survivors living with HIV and AIDS are fearful of taking their ARV treatment, or find it difficult to do so, because their homes are crowded with relatives who are unaware of their HIV status.
Survivors who were working previously are no longer able to do so, because their businesses are not dealing in foodstuffs (the only type of business allowed, according to the president’s directive). Some of them survive on one meal per day.

Achievements

The legal department has designed a training manual to guide law enforcement officers in investigations of trauma-sensitive cases.
Nine case managers had telephone counseling training and a recap about trauma by a consultant counseling psychologist. The objective of this training was to ensure that case managers provide therapeutic phone counseling support to clients during the coronavirus crisis, as well as to remote clients in general. Case managers were encouraged to look professional when conducting online counseling sessions, try to ensure they are not interrupted, and prioritize clients’ emotions.

Tanzania

In June, KIWOHEDE, an alliance of 30 organizations working on the rights of children and the prevention of child trafficking will be meeting with the Director of Children Services at the President’s Office Regional Administration and Local Government Ministry. The meeting will focus on exploring means and methods that will facilitate our working relationship in protecting the most vulnerable children from COVID-19, and in particular: trafficked children, child domestic workers, children on the move, children in mining and fishing, those who have undergone or are at risk from FGM and child marriage, and others.

KIWOHEDE are pleased to have obtained this access to the ministry, and the opportunity to understand each other’s capacity in terms of awareness raising, logistics, and reaching out to the affected children. Five organization heads will attend as representatives.

On 26 and 27 May, the Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation (TBC) gave KIWOHEDE one hour’s free air time on national television. Two of their representatives explained the organization’s commitments and responses which have been taken to protect their staff, children and families, and the general public at large.

Since the announcement of the COVID-19 pandemic by the Minister of Health, Honorable Ummy Mwalimu, on 17 March 2020, all 30 alliance members have been working with and supporting the global and national COVID-19 prevention and awareness-raising strategies. Indeed, how the alliance will handle the situation in line with Ministry of Health and WHO protocol, plus all the key issues and initiatives, were well highlighted in the one-hour program, which was aired on two consecutive days. Early next week KIWOHEDE will be visiting some print media houses to explain their work and inform the public about our roles, and submit our press release.