Social affairs minister sounds alarm over rise in human trafficking….

She sounded the alarm while launching an awareness raising campaign on the exacerbating rate of the social ill in Cameroon. It was launched at the Yaounde-Nsimalen International Airport March 18.

The campaign is powered by the International Organisation for Migration, IOM. The ceremony was attended by the Minister of Transport, Jean Ernest Massena Ngalle Bibehe; the IOM Head of Mission in Cameroon, Abdel Rahmane Diop; as well as the representative of the United States Ambassador to Cameroon.

The ceremony was marked by the unveiling of an anti-trafficking poster at the airport and a video projection on human trafficking. 

Speaking at the ceremony, the Minister Pauline Irene Ngue said the issue of human trafficking until the 2000s in Cameroon, focused mainly on child trafficking. 

She said presently, the issue now taken a new dimension, with cases of young girls trafficked to Libya and other Maghreb countries, and the Middle East.

She indicated that the migration issue is now a major preoccupation both at national level and international community. 

“A recent assessment by the relevant UN bodies put the number of victims of illegal immigration in Europe - mostly young people - dead or missing at sea in 2023 alone at around 3,000,” the minister stated. 

She further indicated that data collected by the Missing Migrants Project showed that 2023 was the deadliest year, with at least 8,565 deaths recorded along migratory routes around the world. 

Gov’t committed to fighting phenomenon

The minister expressed government’s commitment to preventing and combating human trafficking and smuggling.

Amongst others, she cited the 2011 Prime Ministerial decision setting up an inter-ministerial committee for the supervision of actions to prevent and combat human trafficking. 

The decision also established a platform for consultation and exchange between the government and civil society on human trafficking and the smuggling of migrants last February 2023.

The platform, she said, “gives us a new opportunity to reiterate the government's commitment, under the high impetus of the Head of State, to combat this scourge”. 

This, she said, will be “by guaranteeing all state and non-state actors the necessary support for prevention, identification, assistance and protection of potential victims, as well as repression of the perpetrators”.

Choice of airport for campaign

The campaign launched at the Nsimalen International Airport, it was said, will simultaneously be implemented at the Douala International Airport. 

The member of government explained that the choice is due to the fact that both airports have been identified as air routes for traffickers. 

This, she said, is according to the report of a study carried out as part of a project dubbed: “Situational assessment of human trafficking and smuggling in Cameroon”. 

She said it was carried out two years ago by the Ministry of Social Affairs with technical funding support of the IOM. 

The campaign, stakeholders said, is expected to contribute, in liaison with the airport authorities, to: detect, denounce or report cases of trafficking and smuggling.

They are expecting it will help vulgarise the legislation on preventing and punishing acts of trafficking; anticipate actions to take care of victims; and set up an information circuit from reporting to the care/reintegration of victims in relation to the authorities and other actors. 

A call centre has been set up with the number 1503, to denounce and report cases of human trafficking and smuggling. With an 11-man full-time operator, the call centre is said to be accessible free of charge 24 hours daily.

IOM Head of Mission applauds gov’t strides

The IOM Head of Mission to Cameroon, Abdel Rahmane Diop, lauded the efforts of the Cameroonian government in fighting against human trafficking and smuggling. 

He insisted that for the fight to be effective, the commitment of all stakeholders is required.

“Let me particularly thank the government of Cameroon for its leadership on trafficking issues, which led to the creation and operationalisation of an inter-ministerial committee to oversee actions to prevent and combat trafficking and smuggling of migrants,” the IOM Head of Mission said.

He commended the government for Cameroon’s rise to the top of the 2023 Trafficking in Persons Report, published by the US Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons.