Advertisement

Dar seeks help from East Africa to curb export of sex slaves

Saturday June 11 2016

Tanzania has started talks with its East African Community neighbours to stem human trafficking.

At the same time, Dar es Salaam is making efforts to rescue women aged between 18 and 24 years who are stranded in the Far East and Middle East countries where they were taken with the promise of jobs, but upon arrival their passports were confiscated and they were forced to work as sex slaves.

The spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, East African Co-operation, Regional and International Co-operation, Mindi Kasiga told The EastAfrican that Tanzania is liaising with the EAC states to increase surveillance at international airports in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.

“After imposing restrictions on Tanzanian job seekers intending to find jobs in Far Eastern countries at all Tanzanian international airports, a syndicate of human traffickers are arranging flights of young girls through Kenyan and Ugandan airports,” said Ms Kasiga.

The government has put on alert all Tanzanian border posts to check on employment agreements for Tanzanians seeking jobs abroad before allowing them to cross.

Between March and May this year, Tanzanian embassies in India, Malaysia and Oman have made efforts to repatriate stranded girls who are forced to work in  brothels.

Advertisement

She said the Tanzanian Embassy in Oman reported that 18 young girls who escaped human traffickers had been stranded in Oman but 10 of them were returned home by their respective families and 16 other Tanzanian girls are stranded at the Embassy of Tanzania in Delhi seeking to be repatriated to Tanzania. 

Advertisement