Michael Ranneberger
6 June 2008
opinion
Nairobi — IN EVERY COUNTRY AROUND THE world, including the US, there is evidence of human trafficking.
Men, women, and children are held in household domestic service, exploited for commercial sex, forcibly recruited as child soldiers, or abused in factories and sweatshops. These forms of human trafficking are, in fact, modern-day slavery.
This year, as America commemorates the bicentennial of the outlawing of the transatlantic slave trade, the lie that made the slave trade possible in centuries past - that some people are inferior to others - is the same lie that justifies human trafficking today.
Yesterday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice released the 8th annual Trafficking in Persons Report to raise the level of awareness of this crime against humanity around the world and to call us all to action against it.
This year's report highlights the issue of demand, and the role it plays in perpetuating trafficking. A mirror must be held up to the so-called "customers" of the "sex industry" to realise how the demand for commercial sex directly or indirectly fuels sex trafficking.
With respect to labour trafficking, companies need to ensure that the products they provide are not derived wholly or in part from forced labour.
Whether sugarcane is produced with slave labour in Brazil, shrimp processed with the forced labour of Burmese migrants in Thailand, or apparel made in Jordan by migrant workers under debt bondage, consumers need to be aware how the chains of production are often tainted with this modern-day slavery.
Victims of sex and labour trafficking -- men, women and children -- come from all corners of the world; no citizens of any country are immune. And it is not a matter of crossing borders. Trafficking chiefly involves exploitation through force, fraud or coercion, which can be both physical and psychological.
THOSE WHO COMMIT OR FACILITATE the crime of trafficking in persons - including fraudulent recruiters, exploitative employers, and corrupt government officials - must be held to account.
In the last five years, over 100 countries have passed new laws or amended existing laws to toughen penalties for human trafficking. Thousands of criminals around the world are now prosecuted when, just five years ago, only a handful were brought to justice.
Those victims the traffickers grossly exploit and control - including men, women, children, citizens, migrants, and refugees - must be accorded the same respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms as is accorded to all persons.
Kenya remains source, destination and transit country for trafficking victims, but its ranking in the report improved from Tier 2 Watch List to Tier 2 in recognition of its increasing efforts to combat these crimes.
However, Kenya still has no specific, comprehensive law against TIP, which has made it difficult for the justice system to investigate and prosecute traffickers and to assist victims.
I urge the Government to complete and submit the Anti-Trafficking Bill to Parliament, and to complete and implement its National Anti-Trafficking Strategy and Action Plan.
The US continues to help Kenya build capacity to fight trafficking. Since 2005, the State Department has awarded $800,000 in grants to NGOs for anti-trafficking programmes in Kenya for victims' assistance, for training law enforcement and immigration authorities on TIP-related issues, and to protect children in the agriculture sector.
Mr Ranneberger is US Ambassador to Kenya.
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