mrf nairobi bulletinkenya.iom.int/sites/default/files/mrf_nairobi... · the eight countries where...
TRANSCRIPT
O C T O B E R 2 0 1 0 V O L U M E 3 , I S S U E 8
I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E :
IOM Kenya Welcomes
the Passage of the
Counter Trafficking in
Persons Act
1
Kenya’s Border
Control Initiatives
Receive a boost as
IOM Hands Over a
Mobile Border Patrol
Unit to the Ministry of
Immigration and
Registration of
Persons
2
Cultural Orientation
Department Explores
New Ventures
2
IOM Organizes Out of
Country Registration
and Voting for
Sudanese Referendum
3
IOM Hosts Horn of
Africa Media Training
in Addis Ababa
3
Diverse Human
Trafficking Trends in
East African Region
Highlights Urgent
Need For Greater
Protection
4
International Organization for
Migration
Mission with Regional
Functions For Eastern Africa,
Church Road, Off Rhapta Road,
Westlands
PO Box 55040- 00200-Nairobi,
KENYA
Phone: + 254 20 4444167/174
Fax: + 254 20 4449577
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: http://nairobi.iom.int
The Government of Kenya has signed into law new
legislation to crack down on human traffickers and
offer protection to trafficking victims in Kenya.
The law which was signed by President Mwai Kibaki
last month slaps a 30 year jail term or a hefty fine
of 30 million Kenyan Shillings (USD 370,000) on
convicted traffickers, sending a stern warning to
individuals who engage in this illegal trade.
“This legislation represents a significant new tool
for Kenya in counter-trafficking law enforcement”
says IOM’s counter trafficking expert Tal Raviv.
Although previous legislation under the 2001
Children’s Act and 2006 Sexual Offences Act
addressed the issue of trafficking, neither law
comprehensively defines the criminal nature of
human trafficking as stipulated in the UN Palermo
Protocol, signed by Kenya in 2005.
Under the new law, trafficking in persons is legally
defined and recognized for the first time, as a
distinct crime in Kenya. National counter trafficking
efforts have until now been focused on prevention
and protection of victims with limited prosecution
of traffickers within the existing legal framework.
“We hope that the new Counter Trafficking in
Persons Act will create momentum to expand
counter-trafficking initiatives in accordance with
the 2008-2013 National Plan of Action (NPA)” notes
Tal Raviv. The Action Plan includes activities such
as supporting school retention rates as a preven-
tive measure, conducting information outreach to
targeted populations, and reducing vulnerability by
supporting socio-economic development and
empowerment in vulnerable communities.
Other efforts include putting in place systems and
procedures for a national referral mechanism and
strengthening the capacity of law enforcement
agencies and the judiciary to protect victims and
prosecute offenders. In addition to supporting
drafting of the new law, IOM has also provided
technical support to the Ministry of Labour to
strengthen labour migration practices and to the
Kenya Association of Private Employment Agencies
(KAPEA) to promote ethical recruitment practices
that do not contribute to human trafficking. IOM
also provided media training to enhance
investigative and reporting capacities and encourage
coverage of human trafficking and related issues.
Other partners who contributed to the bill include
the Children’s Foundation the CRADLE, the UN
Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the Attorney
General’s Office, Children’s Department in the
Ministry of Gender, the Law Reform Commission,
the Federation of Women Lawyers of Kenya (FIDA-K)
and the Kenya National Commission on Human
Rights (KNCHR).
STIFF PENALTY FOR HUMAN TRAFFICKERS AS PRESIDENT KIBAKI SIGNS THE COUNTER
TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS ACT
MRF NAIROBI
BULLETIN
IOM Kenya has implemented a series of information campaigns
to help create awareness on human trafficking
IOM provided technical and financial
assistance in drafting the new law as part of
the “Counter-trafficking Through Capacity
Building, Awareness Raising and Assistance
to Victims Programme” funded by the Royal
Norwegian Embassy in Kenya.
IOM has implemented a series of awareness campaigns on
human trafficking
P A G E 2 V O L U M E 3 , I S S U E 8
Border management initiatives in Kenya received a major boost
last month when IOM handed over a Mobile Border Control Unit to
the Government of Kenya.
The mobile unit is designed for rapid deployment of immigration
personnel and law enforcement officers to Kenya’s remote border
areas with no established border control stations and is fully
equipped with up-to-date immigration control facilities and
communication equipment. The core element of the Unit is a fully
equipped office container, mounted on a 6x4 truck and fitted out
with HF/VHF radios, forensic document examination equipment, a
mobile workstation for registering persons and vehicles, as well as
a generator for providing auxiliary power supply.
Speaking at the handover ceremony, the Minister for Immigration
and Registration of Persons, Otieno Kajwang, acknowledged IOM’s
efforts and collaboration with the Ministry in controlling and
ensuring the orderly movement of persons.
“Garissa and Isiolo are some of our most difficult borders to
manage due to the deteriorating security situation in Somalia, with
high numbers of people crossing the borders - mainly uncontrolled
- every day. It is important for us to know who is moving across our
borders in a timely manner and this border control unit will facili-
tate our mobility and presence in these difficult areas.”
The IOM Regional Representative for East and Central Africa Mr.
Ashraf El Nour emphasized IOM’s support to the ministry.
“Movement of people is fluid and this border control unit can now
enable immigration officials to go where needed. It is a major mile-
stone in the ministry’s effort towards effective border manage-
ment for Kenya”.
Earlier this year, IOM provided the Kenyan Ministry of Immigration
with three vehicles specially adopted for border management pur-
poses. Provision of the vehicles and the Border Control Unit are
part of overall IOM efforts to support the Ministry of Immigration
to improve management of Kenya’s porous borders.
The support was provided through IOM’s Capacity Building in Mi-
gration Management Programme, funded by the Danish Govern-
ment.
MINISTRY OF IMMIGRATION RECEIVES A BOOST IN
BORDER MANAGEMENT EFFORTS
As the cultural orientation portfolio grows, the IOM trainers in
Nairobi continue to seek new training venues for labour migrants
in Kenya, even as they spread out to train refugees in Sudan and
South Africa.
Migrants destined for the Netherlands from Sudan and South
Africa received training in Cape Town and Khartoum in October.
This training followed a training of trainers session that was
conducted for cultural orientation coordinators and senior trainers
at the Hague in April this year. The trainings targeted 14 refugees
whose files have been reviewed and accepted for resettlement in
the Netherlands. About 150 places have been allocated for these
cases that are referred to as dossier cases.
In Kenya, the cultural orientation team has carried out several
trainings in Mombasa, a venue that is now becoming a popular
training site for labour migrants destined for Saudi Arabia, Qatar,
Dubai, Afghanistan and Kuwait. This programme is implemented
through the collaborative efforts of IOM and the Youth Enterprise
and Development Fund.
The trainings were extended to Mombasa to enable labour
migrants from the coastal city of Kenya to participate and benefit
from the pre-departure cultural orientation.
Cultural orientation helps migrants acquire the information and
skills necessary to gradually adapt to a new society and culture.
MRF NAIROBI CULTURAL ORIENTATION TEAM EXPLORES
NEW VENTURES
The Mobile Border Patrol Unit is equipped with up to date immigration
control facilities
The CO Coordinator (extreme left) and participants in Khartoum, Sudan
Labour migrants destined for Dubai pose for a picture during a training session in
Mombasa in October 2010
P A G E 3 V O L U M E 3 , I S S U E 8
IOM is organizing the out-of-country registration and voting (OCRV) for a referendum on 9 January 2011 to decide whether Southern
Sudan remains part of a unified Sudan or secedes.
The referendum, which will allow the people of Southern Sudan to exercise the right to self determination, is part of the Comprehen-
sive Peace Agreement of 2005 that ended more than two decades of conflict in Africa’s largest nation.
The decision follows the signing of an agreement between IOM and the Southern Sudan Referendum Commission (SSRC) consistent
with the specific role assigned to IOM in the Referendum Act for enfranchising Southern Sudanese abroad.
The Act, which spells out the modalities of the referendum within and outside of Sudan, states IOM’s responsibilities as “assist[ing] in
the organization and supervision of the procedures of registration, polling, sorting, counting and declaration of the results”.
The eight countries where the OCRV will take place - Australia, Canada, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, United Kingdom and the
United States of America – have been identified by those who drafted the Act as areas outside of Sudan with significantly large
numbers of Southern Sudanese people. Nevertheless, Southern Sudanese in other countries who meet eligibility criteria can also
participate by registering and voting in one of the named countries.
Those eligible to register and vote according to the Referendum Act are Sudanese that can prove residential, indigenous or ancestral
links to Southern Sudan. Registration and voting will be carried out in neutral centres in the eight capital cities, and subject to
confirmation by the SSRC, elsewhere in those countries where there are concentrations of more than 20,000 eligible voters.
“The out-of-country voting constitutes a huge responsibility,” says IOM Chief of Mission in Sudan Jill Helke. “The Referendum is a key
step in completing the tasks set out for the six years following the signing of the peace agreement in 2005, and a historic moment in
Sudan’s history. IOM will be working closely with the SSRC, the UN and the eight host governments to enfranchise as many eligible
Southern Sudanese as possible in the given timeframe.”
IOM requires an estimated US$25 million to carry out the OCRV. The Organization, which has long supported the inclusion of migrant
communities including refugees and the displaced in democratic electoral processes in their countries of origin, has unprecedented
experience in out-of-country voting.
Since 1996, IOM has assisted eligible nationals in 74 countries to exercise their right to vote. More than 1.832 million votes have been
cast in IOM-organized out-of-country elections in mainly post-conflict situations such as for Bosnia Herzegovina, East Timor, Kosovo,
Afghanistan and Iraq.
IOM ORGANIZES OUT-OF-COUNTRY REGISTRATION AND VOTING FOR SUDANESE REFERENDUM
A group of 28 journalists from Ethiopia, Somaliland, Puntland and Djibouti in Sep-
tember attended a two-day workshop in Addis Ababa on mixed migration flows in
the Horn of Africa.
The training, which was funded by the Swiss and Japanese Governments, aimed to
further the media’s understanding of migration dynamics in the region, with a
view to promoting partnerships for informed and balanced reporting on the
realities of mixed migration.
“Participating journalists showed a tremendous interest in reporting migration
related issues,” says Odile Robert, IOM’s mixed migration programme officer.
“They voiced their commitment to work with IOM to raise awareness of the needs
of migrants and to advocate through their reporting on the dangers of irregular
migration.”
Every year, tens of thousands of migrants and asylum seekers make the hazardous journey from their place of origin through
Somalia, the region of Puntland state, Somaliland, Djibouti and onwards across the Gulf of Aden. These individuals, driven by political
unrest and extreme poverty face not only dangers at sea but also physical risks, harassment and discrimination during their journey
on land.
IOM HOSTS HORN OF AFRICA MEDIA TRAINING IN ADDIS ABABA
Journalists react to a presentation during the media training
in Addis Ababa
Although exact numbers of eligible voters are unknown, Kenya and Uganda
host the largest numbers of Southern Sudanese. Registration will begin on
14 November and end on 21 November. Voting in the referendum will begin
on 9 January and last seven days.
P A G E 4 V O L U M E 3 , I S S U E 8
An IOM cross-border assessment of human trafficking in Kenya and its neighbouring countries has revealed highly diverse trends
affecting people of all ages and both genders, and highlighting a much greater need for protection of victims.
The assessment, presented last month at an IOM regional
workshop in Kenya focusing on cross-border trafficking in the
East African region, found that although people initially may
have travelled across borders voluntarily in search of greener
pastures, they were invariably deceived by a range of actors
including family, religious acquaintances, business men and
retired prostitutes, into working in exploitative situations.
In Kenya, the assessment found evidence of Rwandan,
Tanzanian and Ugandan victims of trafficking, including
children, working in the capital, Nairobi, as domestic
labourers, in the commercial sex and hospitality sectors, and
in the agricultural sector in various locations around the
country. Victims were identified in the Kenyan-Ugandan
border town of Busia, while Tanzanian children were found
working as cattle herders and in motorbike repair shops in
Oloitoktok on the Kenyan-Tanzanian border, as well as
begging on the streets of Nairobi and Naivasha.
In Tanzania, IOM found evidence of child trafficking from Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda for sexual exploitation, fishing, domestic
servitude and agricultural labour.
Adult victims were identified in the domestic sector, as well as the mining, agricultural and hospitality industries.
The IOM assessment established that Ugandan children are trafficked to all the countries in the region with Uganda also a
destination for trafficked victims from Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda. In addition, instability in the Democratic Republic of Congo
(DRC) was found to be fuelling the influx of trafficked children to Uganda. Victims are usually transported by road using buses,
lorries and trucks. Adult victims originate from DRC, Kenya and Rwanda in the domestic, agriculture, fishing and sex industries.
Although information on Rwanda was scant, the country was identified as a source for victims destined for Italy, Norway and the
Netherlands as well as for child victims destined for Nairobi and the Kenyan coastal city of Mombasa as domestic workers and for
sexual exploitation.
Rwanda is the only country in the region where the government, through
the Police and the Ministry of Gender, has established shelter and hotline
services to assist victims of gender violence including victims of trafficking.
However the lack of appropriate referral mechanisms across its border
hampers efforts to expedite the return and rehabilitation of cross-border
victims.
The findings of the assessment used by 50 senior East African government
officials, civil society partners and international experts at the IOM
organized workshop, led to the decision to create an IOM facilitated
regional network of partners as a first step to creating a functioning
referral mechanism.
Participants also called for the implementation of a region-wide 116
emergency number - an internationally recognized hotline number for
trafficked children which is currently in use in Kenya. Other recommenda-
tions included: the establishment of a centralized regional database on human trafficking to include information on traffickers that
can be shared with law enforcement agencies in the region; greater research to determine the scale of the problem in the region;
the harmonization of anti-trafficking laws in East Africa and the development of common procedures and standards on countering
human trafficking.
DIVERSE HUMAN TRAFFICKING TRENDS IN EAST AFRICAN REGION HIGHLIGHTS URGENT NEED FOR
GREATER PROTECTION
Participants of a regional counter trafficking workshop follow proceedings
The lack of referral mechanisms providing protection and support, especially for
adult victims, is a major weakness in the counter-trafficking response in the region.
The workshop brought together participants from the East Africa
Region
P A G E 5 V O L U M E 3 , I S S U E 8
MRF NAIROBI WOULD LIKE TO THANK THE DONORS AND PARTNERS WHO HAVE FEATURED IN THIS
MONTH’S NEWSLETTER AND WITH WHOSE SUPPORT THESE PROGRAMMES HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE
International Organization for Migration
Mission with Regional Functions For Eastern Africa,
Church Road, Off Rhapta Road. Westlands
PO Box 55040- 00200-Nairobi, KENYA
Phone: + 254 20 4444167/174
Fax: + 254 20 4449577
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: http://nairobi.iom.int