Cross Border Crime developing into serious problem: Ethiopian Police

Addis Ababa, January 24, 2024 (FBC) – The destabilizing effect of cross border crime is developing into a serious problem that poses a threat to peace and security of each country globally, Federal Police Deputy Commissioner General Zelalem Mengistie told ENA.

Opening the Prosecution and Law Enforcement Dialogue and Roundtable in Ababa Ababa today, the deputy commissioner general said the destabilizing effects of cross border crime as a global phenomenon is developing into a serious problem that poses a threat to peace and security of each country.

“We are living at a time when technological and communication advancements have shrunk distances between states and opened up new frontiers of opportunities for economic, political and social interactions,” he noted.

This process of globalization has also led to unprecedented opportunities for illegitimate transactions such as human trafficking and smuggling of migrants by criminal organizations.

Due to this, people are suffering owing to traffickers and smugglers who are making enormous amounts of money through exploitation with no care for the safety of those they move, the deputy commissioner general pointed out.

Not only are many migrants have been victims of extortion, torture, detention for ransom, sexual violence and exploitation, forced labor and domestic servitude, but also dying every day.

To fight criminal networks involved in human trafficking and smuggling of migrants, the Regional Operational Center in support of the Khartoum process and the African Union (AU) Horn of Africa Initiative (ROCK), and the Emergency Trust Fund for Africa of the European Union played a pivotal role by funding the project attributed to this particular issue, it was learned.

According to the deputy commissioner general, Ethiopia is playing its leading role in fighting criminal activities in human trafficking and smuggling of migrants.

ROCK Technical Director, Heve Jamet said that the main goal of the roundtable is to gather people from the justice, the prosecutor office, and the police in order to exchange ideas on how to implement the cooperation and the smooth transmission of information between all the forces

The ROCK is a project which focuses on human trafficking and human smuggling funded by the European Union.

“I just want to underline that Ethiopia is a very important partner for us. It is one of the main partners of this project,” the technical director noted.

The objective of ROCK is to fight criminal networks involved in human trafficking and migrant smuggling and to mitigate the dangers and often fatal consequences that migrants face in the hands of the smugglers.