The escalating human trafficking menace across the Horn of Africa region should be tackled as a matter of urgency to avert social turmoil and instability, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said in a statement during World Day Against Trafficking of Persons.
The IOM said human trafficking in the East and Horn of Africa region has taken a worrying dimension, with a majority of victims exposed to violence, sexual abuse and forced labour. It said criminal syndicates have exploited poverty, social breakdown, political instability, lax policing at porous borders to traffic men, women, boys, girls and minors from the region to foreign destinations, for cheap labour.