Nairobi — National Carrier, Kenya Airways (KQ)on Monday launched its Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Policy and Public Awareness Campaign in collaboration with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
The fully endorsed Trafficking in Persons Policy which came into effect in January 2023, outlines the airlines stand and actions against Human Trafficking.
The Public Awareness and Outreach campaign is designed to educate Kenya Airways staff and the public about the misconceptions, the realities of human trafficking as well as how to identify and report cases of Human Trafficking.
Kenya Airways Chief Financial Officer, Hellen Mwariri Mathuka said that KQ takes a strong stand against all forms of human trafficking and fully supports the elimination of the exploitation of human beings and modern slavery.
While launching the policy, Mathuka said that KQ's vast network and connectivity should only be used for good and to advance the development of Africa.
"We therefore stand against all forms of human trafficking, fully support the elimination of the exploitation of human beings and modern slavery and will not condone human trafficking in any part of our organization," she said.
The KQ Chief Financial Officer said that the airline has invested in capacity building programs to give its employees the tools to identify and report suspected cases of human trafficking noting that they recognize that their employees at the airport and on flights are uniquely positioned to look out for this type of crime.
Transport Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen lauded the the national carrier for launching the policy and its role in combating trafficking in persons.
Accorsing to Murkomen, the airline has developed mechanisms that have protected its systems from being misused to facilitate the transportation of human trafficking victims.
"We are keen on ensuring such measures are replicated by other players in the sector through closer collaboration, with the support of partners like the UNODC. We look forward to you being the lead agency in this fight and inspiring other agencies to do the same," Murkomen said.
On her part, Florence Bore Cabinet Secretary Ministry of Labour and Social Protection said that due to the global and criminal nature of trafficking in persons, prevention and response efforts require multi-disciplinary approach within and across sectors and borders.
She pointed out that Transport is one of the important sectors in the fight against trafficking.
CS Bore stated that the launch of the Kenya Airways Policy on Trafficking in Persons (TIP) is a clear testament of the Airline's commitment to strengthening combined efforts in combatting trafficking in persons in the country and across the globe.
"It is no doubt that, the training and creation of awareness among the KQ airline staff, provided for in the policy, will build their capacity to proactively play their role in the fight against trafficking in persons," she said.
While commenting on the same, Maria Temesvari, Deputy Regional Representative for Eastern Africa at UNODC noted lauded the airline for its efforts to fight human trafficking.
"I wish to congratulate Kenya Airways on the launch of their policy on trafficking in persons and acknowledge its role to further enhance the Government of Kenya's capacity in combating trafficking and increasing the number of detections and investigations of this crime,"Temesvari said.
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In December 2021, UNODC combined the expertise of two of its programmes - the Better Migration Management (BMM) Programme and the Airport Communication Project (ARCOP) to organise a specialised inter-agency workshop on combatting Trafficking In Person (TIP) at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).
The workshop brought together officers based at JKIA from police, immigration, airport authority, customs, prosecutors, and representatives of Kenya Airways.
After four days of interactive sessions, the participants adopted recommendations, including for Kenya Airways to develop actions to prevent and combat TIP.
2021 Global Estimates indicate that 49.6 million people are in modern slavery on any given day, according to a 2022 IOM's report on Global Estimates of Modern Slavery Forced Labour and Forced Marriage
