Africa-Press – South-Sudan. The Director for Information and Public Relations at the Directorate of Civil Registry, Nationality, Passports and Immigration, James Mapuor Acuoth, has said the country has registered a case of human trafficking into the country, but the traffickers remain at large.
Acuoth revealed that immigration was investigating a case involving four Eritreans who entered the country without valid documents this week. According to him, the victims disclosed that some people smuggled them into the aeroplane from Addis Ababa.
Attempts to reach the Ethiopian Embassy in Juba to comment on this were in vain, as the phone of the officer in charge of communication went unanswered.
“Recently, Lt. General Atem Marol Biar went to Kenya and held a meeting with the director generals of immigration and also IOM, so they were concerned about the human trafficking in the region,” Acuoth explained.
“Four days ago, people turned up, especially Eritrean citizens. They turned up at Juba airport without any proper documents. When asked, they said, some people put us in the aeroplane, and we found ourselves here in Juba International Airport.” This is a suspicion of human traffickers who are behind this in Addis Ababa.”
The information director stated that they had not yet arrested any traffickers but were still investigating the incident as they promised the country to fight organised crime.
“We have not yet arrested any traffickers, but we are conducting an investigation. There were reports about people who had been trafficked. This is a regional concern and South Sudan also wants to (exert) efforts so that this will not happen, ” he promised.
“Some people use other people to come and give them full employment. Some people transport people for prostitution purposes. “
Acuoth warned that such criminals take advantage of the country’s weak borders and that nobody has been prosecuted for such crimes. He added that agencies and trained personnel would help address border permeability to prevent unauthorised entries.
“South Sudan has inherited a very weak border system. People can use the land to come into South Sudan. People can also use aeroplanes because they have seen that in the airport, there is nobody who has been prosecuted when he turns up without proper documents, ” Acuoth stressed.
He said that immigration had decided to cooperate with the embassies so that the practice could be limited. He urged the citizens to be vigilant and not to harbour strangers.
Potential harbour
The information director said last year that immigration had a similar case that involved two Ugandan sisters who were trafficked into the country without proper documents.
He said they coordinated with their family and were deported to reunite with their family in Uganda.
“And the case, we registered last year, was two Ugandan sisters. And the South Sudan government is now serious and is stepping up the investigation to flash out all these corners where there is a network, ” Acuoth stated.
“There are so many cases, especially last year. We recorded one between Uganda and South Sudan. The two sisters were trafficked from Uganda to South Sudan. So, the police were very serious, and those victims are now reunited with their families in Uganda. And there are so many cases I am following now.”
On May 18, 2021, a report on human trafficking released by the International Organization for Migration maintained South Sudan as the “major route” for human trafficking.
The recent report on human trafficking reveals that South Sudan is among the region’s major routes for human trafficking.
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