Bruhan Makong
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| Cabinet Secretary for the Ministry of Roads, Transport and Public Works Kipchumba Murkomen (C) takes part during the launch of a campaign against human trafficking in Nairobi, capital of Kenya, on March 6, 2023. (Photo by Charles Onyango/Xinhua) |
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.
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