NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 23 — Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Renson Ingonga has called for stronger cross-border cooperation among countries in the Horn of Africa to combat increasingly sophisticated human trafficking and migrant smuggling networks, warning that no single nation can effectively tackle the crimes alone.

📻 Breaking It Down

Speaking at the opening of the Regional Conference on Counter-Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants in Nairobi, Ingonga said criminal syndicates are exploiting poverty, conflict, displacement, and irregular migration routes to traffic vulnerable people across the region.

“The broad regional composition of this conference is itself a testament to the recognition that trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants are not isolated national concerns, but are transnational organised crimes that demand a coordinated, cross-border response,” he said.

The three-day conference has brought together delegates from Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, and South Sudan under Phase IV of the Better Migration Management (BMM) Programme implemented by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

📌 What You Need to Know

The East and Horn of Africa region remains a major source, transit and destination corridor for victims of trafficking, with criminal networks targeting men, women and children for forced labour, domestic servitude, sexual exploitation, forced begging, and other forms of abuse.

Ingonga noted that the growing use of digital platforms by traffickers and the ease of moving across porous borders have made detection and disruption of the criminal networks increasingly difficult.

He said efforts to address the menace must be anchored on four pillars — prevention, protection, prosecution and partnership.

“An effective response to trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants must rest on four mutually reinforcing pillars: Prevention, Protection, Prosecution, and Partnership,” he said.

Ingonga warned that trafficking syndicates continue to exploit weak institutions, poverty, displacement and lack of public awareness to recruit and transport victims across borders for exploitation.

He urged criminal justice agencies across the region to deepen cooperation through intelligence sharing, joint investigations and harmonized prosecution strategies to dismantle the networks.

📰 Source: Capital FM Kenya