Human trafficking victims killed in road accident
March 7, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – Several victims of human trafficking have died in a road accident on Friday while they were en route to Sudan’s Northern state, eyewitnesses said
The same sources said that most of the casualties were Ethiopian nationals, pointing that two of the traffickers were among the dead.
According to Sudanese police,15 people were killed in the accident which occurred in Al-Baga area, 79 km from Khartoum on the Shirian Al-Shimal highway that links the Sudanese capital with the Northern state.
Press reports said that Shirian Al-Shimal highway saw repeated accidents during the previous period due to over-speeding and bypass, pointing out that police is working on installing speed radars on highways besides launching campaigns to punish those who violate speed limit.
Sudan’s commissioner of refugees affairs, Hamad al-Gizouli, had previously said that 102 human trafficking incident has been registered in Sudan during 2013.
In January 2014, the Sudanese parliament approved an anti-human trafficking law which punishes those involved with human trafficking with up to 20 years imprisonment.
According to press reports, Shirian Al-Shimal highway saw repeated accidents during the previous period due to over-speeding and bypass, saying police is working on installing speed radars on highways besides launching campaigns to punish those who violate speed limit.
In a report issued last year, Human Rights Watch (HRW) accused Sudanese and Egyptian security officials of involvement in human trafficking, saying that Egypt and Sudan are giving allegedly corrupt security officials a free pass to work with traffickers.
“Victims said that Sudanese and Egyptian security officers facilitated trafficker abuses rather than arresting them and rescuing their victims.” the report said.
Last October, Khartoum hosted a conference on human trafficking in the Horn of Africa, organised by the African Union (AU), the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the Sudanese government. Fifteen countries and European Union representatives attended the meeting, during which a joint strategy and action plan to combat human trafficking was adopted.
(ST)