🔎As cyber-scam centre trafficking recruitment targets individuals from South Asia, Africa, and other regions, frontline civil society organisations play a crucial role in identifying deceptive recruitment and coercion, sharing evidence-based risk information, and supporting informed, safer migration decisions to reduce vulnerability to trafficking for forced criminality. 🌏Building on discussions earlier this month with East African civil society organisations, the RSO and @FreedomCollab are bringing together frontline civil society actors and regional partners from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan in Colombo this week to strengthen upstream prevention in source and transit contexts across South Asia. 🇱🇰 🇧🇩 🇵🇰 Over two days, participants will: • Co-design adaptable, evidence-based awareness and prevention materials for use at community level and along migration pathways • Share insights on emerging trends and prevention approaches, including developments in cyber-scam centre operations and recruitment patterns • Explore opportunities to strengthen cross-border collaboration and informal information-sharing networks With thanks to #UKInternationalDevelopment 🇬🇧 for their support for this project.

East Africa has emerged as a primary origin region for individuals trafficked into cyber-scam centres in Southeast Asia, with recruitment continuing at scale through deceptive online job offers and intermediary brokers. Kenya 🇰🇪 serves as both a source country and a transit hub for many travelling from the broader East African region toward Southeast Asia's cyber-scam centres, making it a key location for building awareness and strengthening the skills of immigration officials and other counter-trafficking partners to identify and prevent trafficking for forced criminality. In support, last week the RSO and @FreedomCollab brought together 30 immigration officers from 🇰🇪 Kenya to strengthen their capacity to identify trafficking risk indicators within existing immigration processes, as well as how to stay up-to-date with the latest trafficking for forced criminality trends and better share information with immigration colleagues across borders. Discussions examined how trafficking risks may present at departure, how officers can apply risk-based approaches while respecting travellers' rights, and how immigration services can contribute to broader awareness-raising and prevention efforts. Active engagement throughout the workshop highlighted the relevant immigration officers saw, to understanding these recent trafficking trends, to their jobs, with participants noting that for many working in immigration across the region, this issue had only been heard about in passing previously. This workshop represents the start of broader efforts to raise awareness about cyber scam center related trafficking risk across origin countries, and the RSO looks forward to working with partners including IOM @IOM_EHSA to support ongoing awareness-raising across Kenya's Immigration Service, criminal justice actors, and the broader East African public. With thanks to #UKInternationalDevelopment 🇬🇧 for their support for this project.

🔎How has Southeast Asia responded to #trafficking for forced criminality? 🌏 @FreedomCollab & RSO’s Response Prioritisation Workshop today brings together 23 orgs to review progress, discuss challenges & enhance recommendations for CSOs, Governments & private sector to respond