Members from eight of the eleven members of the Eastern Africa Police Chiefs Cooperation Organisation (EAPCCO) are meeting in Kigali to discuss and establish a model law on human trafficking.

The discussions are a follow up of a prior meeting that was held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania where the EAPCCO and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) met to jointly formulate the regional Action Plan to prevent and combat trafficking in persons in Eastern Africa.

Human Trafficking is outlawed under the UN Protocol against Trafficking in Persons, which has been in effect since December 2003.

According to Chief Supt Elias Kabera from the National Police, the meeting will work towards examining in detail the UNODC model law against trafficking in persons thereby coming up with provisions that states will be recommended to introduce into their domestic legislation as a means to curb the vice.

Kabera who is also an officer with Interpol, attributed the increase in human trafficking to reasons like tourism and Internet, saying that income that is generated from human trafficking is almost surpassing that of drugs.

On a global scale, the human trafficking industry earns US$32 billion per year.

The Rwandan government has recently received two boys from Ugandan authorities, one of them having been on the human trafficking market for 23 million shillings (around Frw8 M).

Anne Nyabera, who represented UNODC, said at the meeting that most African countries still do not have anti-trafficking in persons legislation, while some have laws that criminalize only some aspects of trafficking in persons mainly in children.

2.7 million People are trafficked every year in 127 countries.

EAPCCO was launched in Kampala, Uganda during the first meeting of Eastern African Police Chiefs held from February 18-19 1998.

It was founded as a regional practical response to the need to join police effort against transnational and organised crime. The Interpol Sub-Regional Bureau in Nairobi acts as its Secretariat.

EAPCCO consists of eleven member countries that include Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.

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