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Burundi signs deal to fight human trafficking

Saturday August 17 2019
traffick

Burundian refugees prepare to leave the country. Burundi — whose estimated 346,000 nationals are refugees in neighbouring countries while 130,000 people are internally displaced — is a source country for trafficked persons. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

By KENNEDY SENELWA

Burundi has signed a $3 million deal with the International Organisation for Migration to fight human trafficking in the next three years.

The Burundi Counter-Trafficking 2019-2022 project targets trafficking in persons (TiP) as the precarious security situation that has created opportunity for human traffickers to target most vulnerable people.

According to US Trafficking in Persons Report, Burundi — whose estimated 346,000 nationals are refugees in neighbouring countries while 130,000 people are internally displaced — is a source country for trafficked persons. Adults and children can be coerced into forced labour, domestic servitude, prostitution and other forms of sexual exploitation throughout East Africa region and elsewhere in the world.

Refugees returning to Burundi and the internally displaced remain vulnerable and desperate.

IOM said the three-year project that is funded by the Netherlands will not only help combat migrant smuggling, but also improve the security of communities affected by human trafficking and provide appropriate support to victims of trafficking.

“Trafficking in persons is a subject that requires all of us to find a solution where ordinary people find themselves one day in a nightmare when they believed they would start a promising phase of their lives,” said Caecilia Wijgers, Netherlands ambassador to Burundi.

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The partnership between IOM and Burundian government will serve as a co-ordination mechanism for government ministries linking them to the national police and civil society to implement anti-trafficking measures.

Activities include strengthening national referral system for protection and reintegration assistance to trafficking victims. Border communities will be engaged as security agencies capacity is built to reduce human trafficking and cross-border crime.

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