human trafficking - The African Mirror

Dec

2023

Spike in Asia, Africa migrants turns Amazon jungle outpost into crossroads

A recent crackdown on migrant smuggling and human trafficking throughout the Americas turned up migrants from 69 countries, an indicator of the steep growth in Asians and Africans who are crossing oceans and continents to reach the United States. Coordinated by the international police organization Interpol, the fifth annual Operation Turquesa united immigration enforcement officers from throughout the Americas from Nov. 27 to Dec. 1 in an attempt to dismantle international crime syndicates. Among the victories officials claimed were stopping a Portuguese national who was buying newborn babies from impoverished Brazilian women for sale in Europe, arresting three suspects linked…

Jun

2023

By The African Mirror

Hungary frees 777 foreigners convicted of people smuggling

WORLD

HUNGARY has in recent weeks freed 777 foreigners, mostly Serbian, Ukrainian and Romanian nationals, convicted of human trafficking, the directorate of prisons said on Wednesday in a reply to Reuters questions. Citing overcrowded prisons, Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government issued a decree in April allowing the release of foreign nationals convicted of people smuggling, on condition that they leave Hungary within 72 hours once freed. The move drew a protest from neighbouring Austria, a top destination for smuggled migrants heading for the heart of the European Union via Hungary from the Balkans. Vienna said it regards the release of human traffickers as…

Mar

2023

By The African Mirror

Nigerian senator guilty of human trafficking

NEWS

WILLIAM JAMES A wealthy Nigerian politician and his wife were convicted of trafficking a street trader from Lagos to Britain to illegally harvest his kidney for a transplant for their seriously-ill daughter. Prosecutors said Ike Ekweremadu, 60, and his wife Beatrice, 56, had brought the man to London in February last year with the offer of a few thousand dollars for his organ and the promise of work in Britain. Ekweremadu, an opposition senator in the southern Nigerian state of Enugu and also a former deputy senate president, and his wife were significant figures in Nigerian society with power, influence,…

Jan

2023

By The African Mirror

Eritrean trafficker wanted by Netherlands arrested in Sudan, Dutch prosecutors say

NEWS

DUTCH prosecutors said that an Eritrean man with a conviction for human trafficking who has been on the Netherlands' most wanted list since 2021 had been arrested in Sudan. The Netherlands will request that Kidane Zekarias Habtemariam is extradited, said prosecutors, who want to try him on charges related to his alleged people-smuggling ring. The 39-year-old was arrested on Sunday in a police operation against money laundering that was led by the United Arab Emirates, the prosecutors' office said. Kidane was sentenced in absentia to life in prison by an Ethiopian court in June 2021 after being convicted of starving and torturing…

May

2022

By The African Mirror

Ghana’s human trafficking scourge

HUMAN RIGHTS

JAMILA AKWELEY OKERTCHIRI “It feels like yesterday when I was deceived by one man who claimed to be a travelling agent. He promised me a work opportunity and a good salary,” says 25-year-old Cissy, as she prefers to be called. “As a young lady coming from an average family who really needed help, I fell for his lies.” Cissy says although she was a bit sceptical about the offer and afraid of her destination country, the so-called travel agent convinced her that she had nothing to worry about. “He said I had a host mom who would receive me at…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

Egyptian TikTok influencer to appeal 10-year trafficking sentence

NEWS

MENNA A FAROUK EGYPTIAN TikTok influencer Haneen Hossam will appeal a 10-year prison sentence handed down by a Cairo court that found her guilty of human trafficking, her lawyer has said. In the latest twist in a nearly year-long saga, the court also fined the 20-year-old Cairo University student 200,000 Egyptian pounds ($13,000) on Sunday for encouraging women to share footage on the video-sharing app in exchange for money. "We will demand restoration of the case proceedings because there are contradictions between the verdict and the merits on which the court's decision is based," said lawyer Hani Sameh. "We hope…

Apr

2021

By The African Mirror

Unravelling the complexities of human trafficking

HUMAN RIGHTS

JAN BORNMAN HUMAN trafficking is a topic that never seems far from the public imagination. Regular awareness campaigns ensure it is always included in conversations on fighting crime, and in South Africa, barely a day goes by without someone posting about it on social media. More often than not, though, people tend to link human trafficking to sex trafficking and, invariably, sex work. But globally and in South Africa, experts have warned that sex work is often conflated with human trafficking and the voices and experiences of sex workers are thus dismissed or excluded. In a 2020 research report by the Centre…

Apr

2021

By The African Mirror

Dozens arrested in global human trafficking raids

NEWS

CHRISTINE MURRAY NEARLY 90 people have been arrested for human trafficking offences following an international police operation that also led to 500 victims being found, including some children, the Interpol global police coordination agency has revealed. Police in 24 countries including Kenya, Brazil and France took part in Operation Weka, which was carried out between March 28 and April 2, and comes as experts warn that the pandemic has hampered efforts to bring traffickers to justice. The operation led to 195 arrests in total, including 88 in connection with trafficking crimes. The rest were mainly for migrant smuggling and related…

Jan

2021

By The African Mirror

From trafficking survivor to advocate

NEWS

AS many victims of human trafficking struggle to survive or seek help during the coronavirus pandemic, Kenyan survivor Sophie Otiende is hoping her new role with an international anti-slavery fund will offer a rare source of inspiration. Having worked for many years with grassroots organisations in Kenya to support victims, Otiende has joined the board of directors at The Global Fund to End Modern Slavery (GFEMS). Launched in 2015, the public-private partnership seeks to end modern slavery by making it economically unprofitable. Otiende was enslaved at 13 by an uncle who offered to look out for her when she joined a new…

Jan

2021

By The African Mirror

Laws to leaders: three aims for the anti-slavery movement in 2021

HUMAN RIGHTS

WITH less than a decade for the world to meet a United Nations target of ending modern slavery, experts say gains in tackling human trafficking risk being undone by the COVID-19 pandemic. About 40 million people globally are estimated to be enslaved - in forced labour and forced marriages - in a trade worth an estimated $150 billion a year to human traffickers, according to the U.N. International Labour Organization (ILO). Ending modern slavery by 2030 was one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations in 2015. But the fallout from coronavirus - from lockdowns…