By Princess-Ekwi Ajide
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), in its Fifth Global Report on Trafficking in Persons, said out of the 4,799 victims detected in 26 Sub-Saharan Africa countries, 3,336 were in West Africa including 2,553 children.
The UNODC data suggested that close to 80% of victims in West Africa were trafficked for forced labour, which till date, remains the major form of exploitation in the region.
It is on this backdrop, that the ECOWAS Commission, in collaboration with the Government of the Republic of Sierra Leone, with the support of the African Programming and Research Initiative to End Slavery (APRIES) as well as the International Organization for Migration (IOM), organised the Regional Conference for ECOWAS Member States on Ending Human Trafficking, with the theme: ‘Charting a way forward for deeper cooperation in ECOWAS to end Human Trafficking’ scheduled for 25th and 26th April, 2023.
The essence of the Conference is to share lessons learned in the implementation of the Member States respective TIP Action Plans to improve protection, prevention, prosecution, and partnerships in the fight against TIP and provide a platform for cross learning and agreement on key value-added interventions in enhancing the implementation of the ECOWAS Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons.
The Conference expected be opened by the President of the Republic of Sierra Leone, Julius Maada Bio, and will be chaired by his vice, Dr. Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh, Ministers responsible for the fight against human trafficking in all 15 Member States and Mauritania are expected to attend as well as the technical focal points for combatting trafficking in persons.
The ECOWAS Delegation to be led by the President of the Commission, Dr. Omar Alieu Touray, include the ECOWAS Commissioner for Human Development and Social Affairs, Prof. Fatou Sow Sarr, Director Humanitarian and Social Affairs Dr. Sintiki T. Ugbe, among other key technical staff.
The Conference will feature a closed-door Ministerial roundtable to finalize the roadmap for the enhanced Combat of Trafficking in Persons in the ECOWAS Region, experience sharing amongst ECOWAS countries on the implementation of their respective TIP action plans and presentation of the Outcomes from the MRU Trafficking in Persons Conference held in Sierra Leone in 2022.
It will consider thematic areas that would work towards eliminating human trafficking in the region, such as: emerging trends in child trafficking and the identification of robust solutions, cyber enabled trafficking and tools to strengthen stakeholders’ responses, role of data in strengthening the response to human trafficking, approaches to survivor legal redress, return, and reintegration amongst others.
The Conference shall also feature the Official Launch of the National Referral Mechanism on Victims of Trafficking by the Minister of Social Welfare of Sierra Leone, Madam Baindu Dassama while the Ministers present at the Conference will adopt the roadmap for the enhanced Combat of Trafficking in Persons in the ECOWAS Region, which will be incorporated into and implemented as a component of the ECOWAS Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children.
The roadmap will serve to further enhance the effectiveness of measures already outlined in the ECOWAS Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons.
