John’s question rooted me to the ground: “What is information, if it is not of value to the recipient? Why give migrants information that is of no value to them?”
I left his office in deep thought.
As part of their outreach activities, organizations that work to deter human smuggling often develop information education materials that are targeted towards curtailing the vice. In many instances, this material will carry heavy undertones of doom, gloom, and certain disaster for anyone who dares to surrender him/herself to the curtails of human smugglers.
Consequently, a lot of money is spent on sharing this information with the sections of the society that are deemed to be most-at-risk because of the high likelihood of their involvement in human smuggling activities.
Yet human smuggling continues. Unabated, more sophisticated, and with an increasing level of reckless boldness.
I live in Kenya. At the end of last year, an article was written that sounded an alarm over the stretched prison facilities in Kenya’s Northern regions of Isiolo and Marsabit, owing to an influx of detainees (victims of human smuggling) who were arrested as they moved from Ethiopia, through Kenya, to South Africa.
Just last week, the Kenyan police raised security concerns over the increasing number of Ethiopians immigrants who are illegally accessing Kenya through the porous border in Moyale, en route to South Africa. Approximately 2,000 Ethiopian immigrants have been arrested in Kenya since this year started. This translates to 200 arrests each day.
This was John’s argument: It is well known that the dangers of human smuggling are better known to the victims than to some of the communications officers who burn the midnight oil compiling the information education materials for their anti-human smuggling campaigns. The victims are fully aware of what they are getting themselves into. They have measured the pros and cons, and still opt to go through with the perilous journey. If these communications officers are really keen to realize a return-on-investment for their communications materials, would they not rather give the migrants information that would be more useful to them, in order to increase their chances of survival as they make their voyages? For example, an information sheet on “10 things to watch out for when determining the credibility of the individual who has offered to help you get smuggled”?
John’s views sent a shiver up my spine. Would this not be like assisted suicide? Would you hand a loaded gun to your child, simply because she/he won’t stop crying?
Yet, I found myself compelled to give some serious thought to what John said. If the anti-smuggling organizations are not giving the migrants information that would be of practical use to them, are the organizations not failing in their communications strategies?
What is information, if it is of no value to the recipient?
The author is a humanitarian analyst and she writes on migration. Email her on: msanyu@yahoo.com
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