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Airlines launch initiative to stem $32bn human trafficking trade
It is the fastest growing crime worldwide
Amid modern day slavery playing out in Libya and other places in which over 20, 000 Nigeria are currently trapped, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said it had received the approval of its airline members to launch an initiative that will enable the airline industry to support government initiative in tackling the problem.
The group described it as a $32 billion a year transnational enterprise and, according to the US State Department, it is the fastest growing crime.
As a result, the association, Airports Council International (ACI), and other aviation industry partners will launch a human trafficking awareness campaign during next year’s first quarter, IATA Assistant Director for External Affairs, Tim Colehan, told Woleshadare.net at the association’s annual media day recently in Geneva, Switzerland.
Key indicators of human trafficking include passengers not in control of their own travel documents, acting frightened or nervous, rehearsed or inconsistent stories or uncertainty about their destinations.
At June’s IATA Annual General Meeting and World Air Transport Summit in Sydney, Australia, the association had committed to proposing a resolution for member airlines to commit “to denounce this horrendous crime, and do what we can do to assist in the fight.”
Unknown to many travellers, the planes they fly on could be vehicles for human trafficking. Traffickers can hide in plain sight, as long as people don’t know how to find them.
Human trafficking has been a menace in Nigeria. Over the years, this menace has been the challenge of many families and countries as thousands of men, women and children fall prey to traffickers promising better life somewhere far from home.
Nigerian women and children are subjected to forced prostitution throughout Europe. The country is described as a transit point for West African children subjected to forced labour in the country’s granite mines and children and women subjected to sex trafficking.
A report stated that Nigerian women and girls were subjected to forced prostitution throughout Europe.
Nigerian women and children are also recruited and transported to destinations in North Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia, where they are held captive in the sex trade or in forced labour.
Nigerian gangs subject large number of Nigerian women to forced prostitution in the Czech Republic and Italy.
Colehan lamented that the extent of the crime is truly appalling, adding that the last estimates from the International Labour Organisation are that 25 million people are trafficked annually, saying that, “this is more than the population of Australia.”
According to him, “it is a $32 billion a year transnational enterprise and according to the US, State Department, it is the fastest growing crime.”
He stated that governments and law enforcement agencies had the responsibility to identify, apprehend and prosecute those involved in trafficking.
He chided airlines, saying the air services, which deliver so many social and economic benefits could also be misused by traffickers as a means of transporting victims.
“Human trafficking can happen in plain sight. Many of you flew to Geneva for this meeting. Could someone sat next to you or few rows back be the victim of human trafficking? How could you tell? Spotting the signs of potential trafficking situations will only be visible to those trained to have their eyes open to see it.”
Colehan disclosed that there was also growing awareness that customer-facing staff at airlines and airports can play a role in supporting law enforcement by being trained to identify the signs of potential trafficking and reporting their suspicions.
“Governments and law enforcement agencies have the responsibility to identify, apprehend and prosecute those involved in trafficking,” Colehan emphasized.
“But it is an issue for airlines because the air services can be misused as a means of transporting victims. Human trafficking can happen in plain sight,” he added.
Over 70,000 U.S. airline staff have been trained to identify smugglers and their victims in that way under the Blue Lightning initiative, launched in 2013 with the support of JetBlue, Delta Air Lines and others.
