October 16, 2014 (KHARTOUM) - Sudan has called to support its efforts to
combat human trafficking in the Horn of Africa region, expressing its
commitment to participate in the regional and international efforts to
fight this trans-national crime.
This week, Khartoum hosted a meeting organised by the African Union in
collaboration with IOM, UNHCR and Sudanese government on human
trafficking in the Horn of African attended by ministerial delegations
from 15 countries of migration source and a big delegation from the
European Union. The US government was represented by its deputy chargé
d'affaires in Khartoum.
Sudan's vice-president Hasabo Abdel Rahman, and interior minister, Ismat
Abdel Rahman, participated in the opening of the ministerial meeting
held on the fourth day of the conference before the adoption of a joint
strategy and action plan.
The vice-president reiterated Sudanese government commitment to combat
the human trafficking and expressed Sudan's readiness to cooperate with
the neighbouring countries and international community to end this abuse.
Minister Abdel Rahman in his speech mentioned the efforts of his
government to eliminate this crime, asserting that Sudan is a transit
country for the traffickers.
Speaking in a press conference at the end of the conference, the
interior minister went further to develop his position saying the
traffickers are active at refugee camps on the eastern Sudan border areas.
He added that the Sudanese authorities took the necessary measures to
control the camps and organise the process of entry and exist besides
providing humanitarian assistance to the refugees.
Abdel Rahman told reporters that more than 70% of refugees in Sudan are
located in the cities. He added that this situation make them vulnerable
and requires improving their conditions inside the camps.
Political instability and wars in the Horn of Africa make the region
volatile and insecure driving large number of people to quit their
countries and cross to Sudan seeking to join Europe, Canada and USA.
This situation also created a market for smugglers and traffickers who
request important amounts of money to facilitate their departure to
their final destination.
Last February, Human Rights Watch accused traffickers in eastern Sudan
of torturing Eritrean for ransom. The victims told the rights groups
that Sudanese and Egyptian security officers facilitated trafficker
abuses rather than arresting them and rescuing their victims.
The Sudanese interior minister said his government signed a number of
agreements with the neighbouring countries including Eritrea and
Ethiopian and established joint border patrols aiming to combat such abuse.
He pointed out to the joint actions conducted earlier this year by the
Sudanese Libyan force to curb the trafficking operations.
The Sudanese parliament last December endorsed a bill on combating human
trafficking and called for carrying out deterrent penalties including
capital punishment and life imprisonment against those involved in those
crimes.
The deputy head of US embassy in Sudan, Benjamin Moeling, in a speech
delivered on Thursday expressed his country readiness to support the
action regional action to combat this crime. He added that his
government supports UNHCR and IOM's joint strategy to combat
trafficking-in-persons.
Moeling disclosed that an American delegation visited Khartoum and
eastern Sudan in September "and shared best practices".
"In particular, we commended the Government for passing anti-trafficking
legislation and establishing a national coordinating body. Building off
of those initial discussions, the United States looks forward to
additional conversations with Sudan, and its partners, on how to further
prevent, prosecute, and protect against trafficking-in-persons", he said.