On 6-7 August 2019, the Regional Conference on Anti-Labour Trafficking Exchange of good practices among national anti-trafficking bodies in the Horn of Africa took place in Nairobi, Kenya. Co-funded by the EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa, the event brought together mandated national bodies from the Horn of Africa to expose and highlight the interface of labour migration and human trafficking.

In the opening speech Hubert Perr, EU Chargé d'Affaires a.i., emphasised the importance of regional approach to issues of anti-labour migration, facilitated in the Better Migration Management (BMM) project.

The BMM programme, funded by the EU and the Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development  (BMZ), aims to improve migration management in the region and addresses the trafficking and smuggling of migrants within and from the Horn of Africa. It is a regional, multi-year, multi-partner programme. Partner countries, that benefitted from the BMM programme, include Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Uganda.

Building on the labour migration and data management recommendations formulated during the first Anti-Trafficking conference in Khartoum in July 2018, the Nairobi conference concentrated on the deepening of exchange of good practices among the counter human trafficking bodies in the Horn of Africa region along the Eastern Migration Route.

The participants identified and deliberated on good practices and their application in respective countries and organisations aiming to enhance protection of labour migrants and prevent their exploitation.