MAINSTREAMING TRAINING ON COMBATING HUMAN TRAFFICKING AND MIGRANT SMUGGLING IN THE CURRICULA OF TRAINING INSTITUTIONS FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENTS TAKES OFF FOR AU HORN AFRICA I

Due to a variety of factors, irregular migration continues to be an issue of concern among Member States of the AU Horn of Africa Initiative on Human Trafficking and Smuggling of Migrants (AU-HoAI). This is an initiative that was launched by Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Libya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Tunisia in October 2014 in Khartoum in quest to foster cooperation among Member States in the region and improve their capacity in addressing the challenges of trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants. In an assessment of the capacity building needs of Member States of the AU-HoAI that was conducted by the Initiative’s Secretariat (comprising the AU Commission, IOM and UNHCR) in 2018, one major finding was the need for capacity building of law enforcement agents of the Member States in combating human trafficking and migrant smuggling. The consequent recommendation was the prioritization of training and capacity building of law enforcement agents of the Initiative’s Member States in combating human trafficking and migrant smuggling. Pursuant to this recommendation, the Secretariat initiated a proposal to mainstreaming training on combating human trafficking and migrant smuggling in the curricula of academies that train Member States’ law enforcement agents. After the proposal was adopted by the Member States, the Secretariat invited interested Member States to submit requests to the AU Commission. In this regard, Ethiopia was the first Member State to submit a request, and the Secretariat and the Ethiopian authorities designed the Ethiopia Mainstreaming Initiative. According to the design of the Ethiopia Mainstreaming Initiative, the AU Commission will develop a curriculum and training modules on combating human trafficking and migration smuggling which will be integrated in the training curricula of police academies and training institutions of the judiciary in Ethiopia. Thus, the training on combating human trafficking and migration smuggling will become an integral part in the training of police cadets/ officers and prosecutors. To kick-start the Ethiopia Mainstreaming Initiative, on 2 February 2021 the AU Commission held an inaugural meeting with the President of the Ethiopia Police University, Deputy Commissioner General Mesfen Abebe Bedye. The meeting discussed the finer details of the Ethiopia Mainstreaming Initiative, and the President of the Ethiopian Police University welcomed the collaboration between the AU Commission and law enforcement agencies in Ethiopia within the context of the AU-HoAI, and expressed his full support for the initiative. The mainstreaming initiative in Ethiopia is the first of its kind in Africa, and should it be successful, the AU Commission will replicate the initiative in other Member States of the AU HoAI, and indeed the Continent on a needs basis. In this respect, imbedded in the design of the Ethiopia Mainstreaming Initiative is a robust monitoring and evaluation system from which lessons will be gleaned for posterity.