Police corruption must be addressed to protect migrants in northern Kenya
Human traffickers evade or bribe security agents in Kenya putting migrants at risk, nearly half the victims of criminal exploitation in the UK are children, and Canada’s migrant farmworker system faces a class-action lawsuit.
Trafficking networks in the northern part of Kenya are transporting people, as well as drugs and arms, towards Nairobi and beyond with near impunity, according to a news article from the ENACT project. The report describes how criminal networks take advantage of the sparsely populated rangelands beyond Isiolo town, 300km north of the capital, to bring migrants south from the Ethiopian border, handing them from one group of traffickers to another until the final destination is reached.
The findings are backed up by Mutuku Nguli, CEO at Counter Human Trafficking Trust-East Africa (CHTEA), who agrees that the northern corridor of migration in Kenya is mainly driven by criminal gangs, noting that some victims of trafficking are also heading north towards Libya with Europe as the final destination. The journey begins as a smuggling operation but, along the way, victims are handed over to other groups or forcefully taken by gangs who sell them for labour or other forms of exploitation, he says.
Political and economic uncertainties in the Horn of Africa bring thousands of vulnerable migrants into Kenya each year, many of whom are in transit to other destinations. Freedom Collaborative’s regional data report, which is based on collective case data from local CSOs, shows that countries in the East and Horn of Africa see high migration activity, with migrants, asylum seekers and refugees traveling both within and outside the area; most migrants travel irregularly and are at great risk of abuse and exploitation. Our latest Kenya data report also identified Isiolo as a transit point for trafficking routes that originate in Ethiopia, with Moyale as a key border crossing point.
Each criminal group protects its territories by violent means and trafficking victims often get caught in the crossfire – last year, a shootout between traffickers and police in the Charri area of Merti resulted in the deaths of four migrants, ENACT says.
State responses to trafficking include increased surveillance on main highways through mobile checkpoints, stricter border controls, drug seizures, and the arrest, prosecution and incarceration of traffickers and even migrants themselves. Security agents also carry out frequent patrols along clandestine routes and special and multi-agency law enforcement units have been deployed.
However, clashes between law enforcement and criminal gangs have less to do with the disruption of trafficking networks than with disagreements over bribes and protection fees, says ENACT. Previously, traffickers used the main Moyale-Nairobi highway for transportation purposes, but demands for exorbitant bribes by corrupt personnel at multi-agency security units and numerous police checkpoints have driven them onto smaller bush roads instead. Unscrupulous state officials and their collusion with traffickers have entrenched the criminal economy in local livelihoods, observers say, and fatal clashes occur when protection fees are raised or exorbitant bribes demanded by rogue police officers.
Criminal markets are tolerated by local communities due to high unemployment and the strain that climate change places on pastoral livelihoods. While locals fear reprisals and threats from traffickers should they share information with the authorities, communities also lack trust in the police. A history of security actor laxity, perceived partiality, collective punishment, communal profiling, and corruption contributes to this lack of faith in law enforcement agencies. As a result, little information is passed on to authorities by civilians.
Disrupting this hub for drug, arms and human trafficking would require committed action from community, government and security sector actors, says ENACT. Leveraging existing regional economic and cross-border police cooperation to crack down on trafficking cartels and address the causes at the source is critical for building a more secure region. Furthermore, continuous investment in legitimate and alternative livelihoods for young people, along with county empowerment programs, could be developed to discourage them from joining gangs and to rehabilitate traffickers. Addressing corruption is an ongoing challenge that requires a shift in business as usual, but implementing these changes may begin a process of building trust between communities and government agencies, including the police, the report suggests.
Here’s a round-up of other noteworthy news and initiatives:
On Friday, the European Union postponed a decision on the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), which would require large companies to assess their supply chains for forced labour or environmental harm, as Germany and Italy signaled they would abstain due to concerns over excessive bureaucracy. The new vote is scheduled for tomorrow, 14 February.
A recent analysis by the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) and Justice and Care shows that nearly half (45 per cent) the victims of criminal exploitation in the UK are boys aged 17 and under. This finding, detailed in the report Criminal Exploitation: Modern slavery by another name, underscores the prevalence of criminal exploitation as the primary form of modern slavery reported in the UK over the past four years, according to National Referral Mechanism (NRM) statistics.
Also, the UK Parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights has issued a warning regarding the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill, stating that it poses a fundamental challenge to the UK’s human rights obligations. This legislation, designed to enable the deportation of asylum seekers to Rwanda, is deemed to undermine established protections and contravene international treaties, according to the committee’s latest report.
A proposed class-action lawsuit seeking damages of CA$500 million is challenging Canada’s migrant farmworker system, alleging it is overtly racist and violates workers’ rights. Originating in 1952, the system ties migrant workers, particularly Black and Indo-Caribbean workers, to specific employers, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation and abuse.
This opinion piece critiques the inadequacy of self-regulatory audits in addressing child labour, as exposed by The New York Times series. Despite their supposed oversight, child labour persists, prompting the call for alternative strategies to tackle labour abuses in global supply chains.
This episode of the BBC’s Focus on Africa series discusses the situation of Ugandan nationals still trapped in Myanmar’s scam compounds, as the Ugandan government says it is actively involved in rescue efforts to secure the release of at least 30 citizens.
On 21 February, join a virtual panel to discuss global import bans against forced labour and their role in combating exploitation in supply chains, alongside emerging corporate accountability mechanisms.
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