Police in the UK have condemned the trafficking, imprisonment, rape and beating of a Kenyan teenager as one of the worst cases of human trafficking they have ever encountered. The 16 year old girl was found when she was dumped in the city of Sheffield after it was discovered that she was pregnant. The girl had been living on the streets in Nairobi after her mother died, but when she was promised work as a domestic help she travelled to London to make a new start in life. When she arrived in the capital, however, she was forced to work as a sex slave. It was only when she became pregnant that the gang abandoned her in the northern city of Sheffield.
Detective Matt Fenwick of South Yorkshire police said: “Anyone who can subject a teenage girl to such abuse needs to be caught as a matter of urgency before they can do the same again.”

Irish MEP Simon Coveney, who is also the host for Business Travellers against Human Trafficking in the European Parliament, has told a sub-committee of the EU Parliament that  women who have been trafficked should be treated as victims, not as criminals as long as they co-operate with the police. He called for EU states to grant victims temporary residence visas as they are often worried about reprisals if they return home.
Simon Coveney MEP also attacked the Irish government’s attitude towards human trafficking, as they have not ratified international agreements or passed legislation which defines human trafficking.

The United Arab Emirates has drafted a new law giving the penalty of life imprisonment for human trafficking. “Tougher penalties up to life sentences await anyone convicted, particularly if a woman, child, or a handicapped person is subjected to such malpractices,” said Mohammed bin Nakhira Al Dhahiri, UAE Minister of Justice and Head of the Ministerial Legislative Committee. The new law is also aimed at companies or institutions which are proven to be involved in human trafficking.
While this new tougher law is good news, what is necessary in the UAE is also the political will to prosecute traffickers and care humanely for victims. While campaigning for victims of human trafficking in Dubai, Business Travellers against Human Trafficking has been told by the government of UAE that there is no problem with human trafficking and that existing laws are adequate. This new legislation obviously represents a move in the government’s position, but at the same time there needs to be greater action on implementation. The problem with trafficking in the UAE remains serious.

Ministers from 26 African states, including the 15 countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the 11 countries of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) signed an agreement to co-operate in the fight against human trafficking. It is an agreement which could affect the lives of thousands of victims of human trafficking, if it is put into practise by governments. Although this is very much open to question, the agreement must be a step in the right direction.
“It is the first time so many of our states, countries of origin and of destination of the traffic in persons, gathered and agreed together on such an issue,” ECOWAS executive secretary Ibn Chambas said. He added that the plan calls for,
“improved management and control of borders, documentation for citizens, (to) enhance funding for all that, but also to sensitise the populations,”
It is clear that if progress is to be made against the huge human trafficking problem which Africa is experiencing, there needs to be more trans-national co-operation. The countries who signed the agreement are;
Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo, Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Gabon, Chad, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Rwanda and Sao Tome and Principe.