INTERPOL-AFRIPOL operation targets human trafficking, migrant smuggling in Africa

Experts have warned that more international cooperation is urgently needed to curb the disturbing trend of a growing number of Africans that are being trafficked and exploited along migration routes to Europe and the Middle East.

Human trafficking and migrant smuggling are on the rise in West Africa, with more than 15,000 Nigerian women and girls who were trying to make their way to Europe that are currently stranded in Mali, according to the Nigerian Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP). Experts in West Africa say that the widespread human trafficking and modern-day slavery have been encouraged by the lack of prosecutions, as this has emboldened many smugglers who ensnare their victims with the promise of taking them to a better life in Europe. Some of the disturbing realities of human trafficking are death, enslavement, and organ theft.

While Nigeria’s National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) is often criticized for not doing enough to combat human trafficking, Josiah Emerole, one of its senior officials says some countries in West Africa have started working together to stop human trafficking. Emerole says that “there is also the ECOWAS Peer Review Mechanism where countries within the subregion come together to review what they are doing so that each country can learn from the others.”

International police agencies are also working together to stop human trafficking through initiatives such as a joint operation organized by the INTERPOL and AFRIPOL. Coordinated with the participation of law enforcement in 54 countries, operation “FLASH-WEKA” resulted in more than 1,000 arrests worldwide and thousands of victims detected.