Task Force on Human Trafficking Launched

MONROVIA – The Government of Liberia in its final nationwide research on human-trafficking, through the Ministry of Labor in collaboration with UNICEF-Liberia, has disclosed the activities of child and adult trafficking in Liberia.

According to a research report titled ‘A Situational Analysis of Human Trafficking, Especially Women and Children in Liberia’, a total of 57 cases of human trafficking were tracked, of which two were adult trafficking cases, while the rest were child trafficking.

The report highlights illegal adoption as one of major causes of child trafficking, with most of the illegally adopted children taken to the United States of America (USA), Canada and Australia. This was evidenced by the recent and tragic beating to death of a Liberian child adopted by an American couple.

The over 200-page report also points out several cases of internal trafficking at Rockhill Community in Montserrado County and other counties such as Maryland, Grand Gedeh, Cape Mount, Lofa, Nimba, Bong, Margibi and Grand Bassa.

In order to combat human trafficking as recommended in the research document, a National Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force was launched on Thursday, February 25, 2010, with Labor Minister Tiawon S. Gongloe serving as Chairman.

UNICEF-Liberia Country Representative Isabel M. Crowley, speaking during the launching ceremony, thanked the effort of the Government of Liberia (GoL) in acceding to the Palermo Protocol and the signing of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.

Crowley also lauded GoL for being a signatory to the ECOWAS Plan of Action against Human Trafficking and the passing of legislation to ban trafficking in persons in Liberia.

The UNICEF-Liberia boss promised to support the efforts of the secretariat of the National Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force at the Ministry of Labor, but called on the Government to demonstrate its commitment to combat human trafficking through a rights-based approach by ratifying all relevant international and regional instruments, and to fully enforce the implementation of all international instruments that it had signed and ratified.

“On behalf of all children in Liberia, I would call on the respective ministries and other institutions to facilitate the development of a comprehensive anti-human trafficking national strategy and plan of action based on the recommendations of this study.

“I call on the legislators to urgently concur with the Child Rights Bill before the Senate and its signing into law by Her Excellency, the President of Liberia,” she added.

Gongloe, who officially launched the Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force, extolled UNICEF for assisting the Task Force by supporting the research on Child Trafficking in Liberia.

“As a state-party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the ECOWAS Protocol against transnational crime, the result of this research will be a very useful tool in meeting our international obligation to protect the children within the borders of Liberia.

“The Government of Liberia is also grateful to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), UNMIL, the World Hope International, ECOWAS, the International Labor Organization (ILO) and Save the Children, amongst other partners, for their continued contribution to our efforts in combating child trafficking. I have not doubt that the finding of the research will further inform our actions in our fight against human trafficking.

“Having said that, I am pleased to launch the Research Report on Anti-Human Trafficking as Chairman,” he asserted.

Sam Ross, Deputy Minister for Economic Affairs at the Ministry of Justice, and Rufus Kaine, Deputy Minister for Planning and Administration at the Ministry of Gender, hailed the research report and pledge their support.

The Anti-Human Tracking Task Force is headed by the Ministry of Labor, while the co-chairmanship goes to the Ministry of Justice.

Other members of the Task Force are Gender, Foreign Affairs, Internal Affairs, the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization (BIN), the Liberia National Police (LNP), amongst others.

The Secretariat based at the Ministry of Labor is supervised by Assistant Minister of Trade Union Affairs, J. Cole Bangalu, while the National Coordinator is G. Adolphus Satiah, Sr.