Nairobi, Kenya – 13 -15 May 2025
CIVIPOL convened the third Regional Forum of the Multi-Agency Task Forces and Technical Working Groups for the Implementation of the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) on Investigating and Prosecuting Trafficking in Persons (TiP) and Smuggling of Migrants (SoM) in Nairobi, Kenya. The Forum brought together nearly 90 participants from across Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Uganda, including criminal justice actors, financial intelligence units, immigration services, labour inspectorates, referral mechanism coordinators, and civil society network leaders.
The Forum was organized as part of the Better Migration Management (BMM) Programme, funded by the European Union (EU) and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). It took place in close collaboration with the EU-funded ROCK Project, which is implemented by CIVIPOL. The event also enjoyed strong support from regional institutions such as East African Police Chiefs Cooperation Organisation (EAPCCO) and INTERPOL.
A Coordinated Approach to Regional Implementation
Successful implementation of the SOPs depends on strong coordination and collaboration, primarily among national stakeholders in the countries that adopted them, but also across Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Uganda, as well as with BMM implementing partners and regional bodies. Developed under the Better Migration Management (BMM) Programme, these SOPs seek to harmonize investigative and prosecutorial efforts to address human trafficking and migrant smuggling. They uphold a human rights-based, victim-centred, and trauma-informed approach, with special attention to gender sensitivity and child protection and are consequently closely interlinked with the referral systems for victims of trafficking.
To ensure the effective implementation of the SOPs at national level, , each country has established a permanent Multi-Agency Task Force or Technical Working Group charged with promoting, monitoring, and continuously improving the use of the SOPs.
Since the inaugural Regional Forum in Nairobi in September 2022 and the follow-up in November 2023, the initiative has steadily expanded, bringing more institutions and critical themes into focus.Organized around a dynamic working group format, the Forum enabled in-depth discussions building on expert panels and working sessions. Key topics include:
- International police and judicial cooperation, covering joint investigations, mutual legal assistance, and operational Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs)
- Financial intelligence and investigations, emphasizing the dismantling of criminal networks, tracing digital assets, and recovering assets for victim compensation
- The evolving role of labour inspection services in detecting labour exploitation trafficking, working closely with law enforcement and service providers
- National and regional referral systems with a focus on timely, secure, and rights-based victim referrals, particularly in cross-border contexts
- Responses to emerging threats such as tech-enabled trafficking, forced criminality in scam compounds, and risks along labour migration corridors to the Middle East
- Operationalisation of the SOPs, crime scene management protocols and digital tools such as the SOPs Checklist and the Digital Service Providers Directory, which improves access to protection and support services
Regional Ownership, Shared Vision
As an outcome of the discussions, participants developed a set of recommendations: the institutionalisation of the SOPs Checklist as a mandatory coordination and monitoring tool, the establishment of informal and operational contact-person networks across countries, and a call for full ratification and implementation of the IGAD Mutual Legal Assistance and Extradiction Convention. The need to operationalise existing and future Joint Investigation Teams (JITs), with support from INTERPOL, UNODC, and the ROCK Project, was strongly emphasised, alongside scaling up trainings on tools such as the PEACE model, which is an investigative interview method (Plan, Engage, Account clarification, Closure, Evaluation), and crime scene SOPs, including those to be adapted for maritime environments.
Forum participants also encouraged closer integration of immigration services and the development of specific SOPs for immigration officers, full involvement of labour inspectorates, structural inclusion of financial intelligence units in both investigations and cross-border operations and the development of transnational regional and bilateral referral systems. There was strong support for developing national SOPs on financial intelligence and virtual assets in counter-trafficking investigations, including addressing the use of digital currencies and money laundering, and expanding multi-agency capacity building through joint training curricula and regional simulation exercises. The aviation sector was also highlighted as a critical partner in detection and early intervention, in line with standards of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and national initiatives.
A Pathway Forward
Across all discussions, a common thread emerged: the SOPs must remain living tools, continuously adapted to respond to emerging trends such as technology-based trafficking, online recruitment, forced criminality in scam compounds, and cross-border money laundering. To meet this challenge, countries committed to strengthen the link between prosecution and protection, enhancing data sharing, securing sustainable victim assistance systems, and advancing legal frameworks for witness protection and non-punishment clauses.
The national Task Forces and Working Groups left Nairobi not just with shared insights, but with a stronger collective vision for the future of anti-trafficking cooperation in the region.
