NAIROBI, July 30 (Xinhua) -- Kenyan security forces have invested in state of the art technology, capacity building and enhanced intelligence gathering to disrupt activities of organized criminal networks involved in human trafficking, a senior official said on Monday.
George Kinoti, the director at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), said the government has prioritized action on human trafficking and other transnational crimes that are a threat to peace and stability in the country.
"We subscribe to the international conventions on combating human trafficking through partnerships, information sharing and robust surveillance at the borders," Kinoti remarked.
"Our investigative agencies have recently managed to unearth criminal syndicates involved in smuggling of children and youth from neighboring countries as part of the wider fight against this vice," he added.
Kinoti spoke in Nairobi during an event to mark World Day against Trafficking in Persons whose theme was "responding to the trafficking of children and young people".
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime organized the event to mark World Day against Trafficking in Persons amid a spike in the criminal enterprise in Kenya and the greater Horn of Africa region.
Kinoti noted that Kenya has emerged as a source, transit and destination country for men, women and children trafficked by criminals for the purposes of forced labor and sexual slavery.
"Most of these victims of human trafficking are trapped in abject poverty and wars. We are training our officers to boost their capacity to detect, arrest and prosecute human traffickers," said Kinoti.
The International Organization for Migration estimates that 20,000 citizens of Somalia and Ethiopia are smuggled through Kenya annually en route to South Africa.
Kinoti said enactment of punitive legislation, training of police and judicial officers as well as investments in community policing has aided Kenya's war against human trafficking.
