The British Embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, marked world Anti-Human Trafficking Day by agreeing to provide training next month to Ethiopian Immigration Officials.
The British Embassy has been working closely with Ethiopian Airlines in tackling cases on human trafficking and has been providing training to the airline on a regular basis at Bole International Airport.
Human trafficking victims are trafficked along a multitude of trafficking flows; within countries, between neighbouring countries or even across different continents. More than 500 different trafficking flows were detected between 2012 and 2014, according to the 2016 global human trafficking report of the United Nations.
The report shows that a total of 69 countries reported to have detected victims from Sub-Saharan Africa between 2012 and 2014. Victims from Sub-Saharan Africa were mainly detected in Africa, the Middle East and Western and Southern Europe. There are also records of trafficking flows from Africa to South-East Asia and the Americas, according to the report.
The aim of the training is to make Ethiopia a secure and difficult place for traffickers as well as to tackle the irregular flow of migration to the UK.
The UK is also planning to provide regular capacity building training to increase immigration and airline officials’ skill sets to fight human trafficking. The officers will be trained in ways of identifying people who try to travel with forged visas and travel documents.
We are also working with the Ethiopian government to enforce strict rules to combat human trafficking which will include interception and prosecution of traffickers in Ethiopia.
With these efforts, Ethiopian Immigration and Ethiopian Airlines Officials were able to stop illegal passengers and facilitators travelling thru Bole International Airport. In the last one yeah British Embassy together with Ethiopian Airlines has intercepted over 160 cases of illegal migration.
“I’m pleased to see that our joint efforts are making good progress in the fight against human trafficking. The UK wants to see a secure Ethiopian airport where it is impossible for human traffickers to operate,” said British Ambassador to Ethiopia, Susanna Moorehead.