English

ROCK PART I ONLINE INVESTIGATIONS

The Regional Operational Centre in Khartoum in support of the Khartoum Process and AU-Horn of Africa Initiative (ROCK) is a regional project to fight criminal networks involved in human trafficking and smuggling, financed by the Emergency Trust Fund for Africa of the European Union, which was launched as part of the Khartoum process at the request of countries from the Horn of Africa.

 To combat these illicit activities, the ROCK promotes the exchange of information and expertise that is essential in the fight against these criminal networks, while paying particular attention to strengthen the criminal justice chain and to enhance the prevention to protect victims.

 Sharing information on irregular migration and associated criminal networks along migratory routes, as well as creating the conditions for their operational use in a legal and judicial framework, is a prerequisite to address transnational crime of THB and SoM. 

Social media has been used by traffickers to recruit victims, to proliferate their trafficking operations (mainly for sexual exploitation) and to control victims through restricting their social media access, impersonating the victim, or spreading lies and rumors online. The internet has revolutionized human trafficking and this falls within the scope of ROCK.