标签： Africa

After nine years of relentless campaigning for accountability, a landmark Scottish modern slavery case has finally drawn to a pivotal guilty plea, exposing horrific abuse of migrant fishermen at the hands of a local trawler operation. For Ghanaian fisherman Joshua Amissah, the moment the court confirmed the admission of wrongdoing was overwhelming: he stepped away from the witness stand, retreated to a quiet corner of the silent courtroom, and crouched to compose himself, overwhelmed by the weight of nearly a decade of unaddressed trauma.

Amissah was one of five Ghanaian fishermen recruited to work on the *Sea Lady*, a scallop trawler owned and operated by Annan-based TN Trawlers, headed by Thomas Nicholson Sr. The vessel’s skipper was Nicholson’s son, Tom Nicholson Jr., who Amissah says openly viewed his Black crew as disposable labor. “He told us we were slaves,” Amissah told the jury at Hamilton Sheriff Court. “He said that his father had told him that any black person he worked with, he must treat that person as a slave.”

What the fishermen endured on the *Sea Lady* in 2017 matches the legal definition of modern slavery, the court has confirmed. Work demanded was non-stop, with no scheduled rest periods. Amissah and his crewmates were forced to create an underground, secret rotating schedule just to steal minutes of sleep between shifts. Food rations were so inadequate that crew members resorted to scavenging raw fish and octopus caught by the vessel’s dredges to avoid starvation. There was no formal onboarding, no safety training, and no opportunity to push back against the exploitative conditions. “As soon as we got there, he said we should just get to work,” Amissah recalled. “[Tom Jr] said there was no time and that we needed to go hunt for scallops. There was no rest during the trip.”

The ordeal only came to light after a life-threatening accident forced the vessel into port. In rough December 2017 weather in the English Channel, 55-year-old crew member Augustus Mensah fell and struck his head open on the hard deck. The only first aid supply on board was a single bandage. When the *Sea Lady* docked in Portsmouth for emergency medical care, police were alerted, launching what would become a years-long battle for justice.

After three days of witness testimony, the case took a sudden turn when Nicholson Jr. changed his plea to guilty on amended charges, admitting he failed to provide adequate food, rest, and mandatory safety training to his Ghanaian crew during their months-long 2017 voyage. The unexpected plea meant three other accusers—Kow Mensah, Gershon Norvivor, and Kojo Attah—never got the chance to deliver their testimony in court. Augustus Mensah, who waited nine years to share his account, said he was still relieved that justice finally moved forward. “It wasn’t easy for me, but I am very happy that at long last we got our justice,” he told reporters outside court.

The convictions are not the first for the Nicholson family or TN Trawlers. In 2022, Thomas Nicholson Sr. pled guilty to failing to provide adequate care for a Filipino crew member in a separate case stemming from a 2012 probe that identified 18 Filipino crew as modern slavery victims. He was fined £13,500 and ordered to pay £3,000 compensation to the injured worker.

This week, the elder Nicholson pled guilty to breaching a landmark Trafficking and Exploitation Risk Order (TERO), a court order designed to restrict the movement of vessels operated by those under trafficking investigation. He is the first person in Scottish legal history to breach one of these orders, which required him to disclose details of all non-European crew before moving any of his vessels. Nicholson moved his trawler *Olivia Jean* from the Netherlands to Scotland without submitting the required documentation to the Maritime and Coastguard Agency; his defense claimed the breach was a “genuine mistake” with no foreign crew on board, but the court still fined him £2,700. He remains under active investigation for human trafficking.

The case, which originated from a three-year undercover investigation by BBC journalists, has sparked widespread criticism over systemic failures in the UK fishing industry and government oversight of public funding for abusive operators. Charity Open Seas director Phil Taylor revealed that TN Trawlers received more than £250,000 in public funding while human trafficking investigations were already ongoing, calling the fine against Nicholson Sr. “paltry.” “This is a really concerning case, and it’s hard to understand how this firm was provided with public funding,” Taylor said. “It shouldn’t be possible for ministers to hand out tens of thousands of pounds to a business under investigation for human trafficking. This case shows how important it is for government to scrutinise the work of firms it is supporting with public money, and to publish details of historical convictions and ongoing investigations on the UK fishing vessel register, to ensure those who break the rules are held accountable.”

Detective Chief Inspector Paul McNamara of Police Scotland said the case was the result of a years-long joint operation between multiple agencies, noting that TEROs play a critical role in stopping exploitation before more harm occurs. “They allow police to step in at an early stage to prevent harm and disrupt organisations while we investigate. Partnership working is essential as we share knowledge and skills to target those who make money by exploiting others. We want to make Scotland a hostile environment for organisations involved in slavery and exploitation, to protect potential victims and keep our communities safe,” McNamara said.

Industry advocates say the TN Trawlers case is not an isolated incident, but evidence of deep, systemic exploitation of migrant workers in the UK fishing sector. Chris Williams, fisheries section co-ordinator at the International Transport Workers Federation, called for sweeping regulatory reform to guarantee basic labor protections for migrant crew. “What we need is a solution that enables workers from the Philippines, Ghana, Sri Lanka and India to come into the UK fishing industry with employment rights, minimum wage protections, and their hours of work and rest being recorded,” Williams said. “We should not allow a ‘race to the bottom’ where workers can be exploited and abused. If we’re so desperate to have them to keep this food-producing sector working, we should be paying people fairly and treating them fairly.”

To date, the UK Home Office has recognized 35 former TN Trawlers workers as official victims of modern slavery, following investigative reporting by the BBC that first exposed the widespread abuse in 2024’s *Slavery At Sea* documentary. In October 2024, a separate group of Ghanaian fishermen rescued from another TN Trawlers vessel, the *Olivia Jean*, each received £20,000 in government compensation for their abuse. TN Trawlers has repeatedly denied all allegations of modern slavery and human trafficking, maintaining that all its workers have always been well-treated and fairly paid. Tom Nicholson Jr. will return to Hamilton Sheriff Court next month for sentencing.

A high-profile protest against proposed development inside one of Africa’s most iconic urban wildlife reserves has landed Kenya’s former Chief Justice David Maraga in police custody, igniting widespread condemnation from human rights and environmental organizations over the treatment of peaceful activists. On Monday, Maraga — who leads the opposition United Green Movement and is a widely speculated 2027 Kenyan presidential candidate — joined nine fellow demonstrators for a march along a highway bordering Nairobi National Park, a 117-square-kilometer protected conservation area and major tourist attraction located directly within Kenya’s capital. The demonstration was organized to oppose plans that activists claim would turn a portion of the park’s protected land into a 1,300-vehicle public car park, part of a broader development deal tied to a neighboring convention center.

The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), the government agency that manages the park, has publicly pushed back against the activists’ allegations, defending its approved projects within the reserve. While KWS has not directly addressed the car park claims, it confirmed plans to construct a new, expanded animal orphanage on an 89-acre plot — just 0.31% of the park’s total area, according to a KWS official quoted by local outlet *The Star*. KWS argues the relocated orphanage will deliver meaningful benefits: enhanced care for rescued wildlife, improved veterinary training opportunities for local conservationists, and a more accessible, engaging experience for the millions of visitors who visit the park each year. The agency also notes that public consultation was held for the orphanage project prior to approval.

Footage shared on social media captured the chaotic end to Monday’s demonstration, showing Kenyan police moving in to disperse the crowd of protesters, who had staged a sit-in on the two-lane highway. Video clips show the 72-year-old former top judge, wearing his party’s signature green attire, being assisted into the back of a police transport truck as surrounding demonstrators chanted “Long live the park” in protest. Maraga and the nine other detained activists were taken into police custody following the dispersal. Though Maraga was granted release shortly after his arrest, he refused to exit the police station until all other detained protesters were freed, a demonstration of solidarity with his fellow activists.

Following his detention, Maraga took to social media platform X to outline the motivations for the protest, writing that he and the other detainees were “fellow patriotic Kenyans” demanding that the country’s “national heritage and environment must be safeguarded from greed and unnecessary destruction without public participation.” So far, Kenyan police have not issued any official public statement regarding the circumstances of the arrests or the reasons for detention.

The arrests have drawn sharp criticism from a coalition of leading global and local rights and environmental groups. In a joint statement, Amnesty International, Greenpeace Africa, Friends of Nairobi National Park, and The Green Belt Movement strongly condemned what they called a violent dispersal of peaceful demonstrators. The groups emphasized that the use of force against Kenyan citizens exercising their constitutionally protected rights to peaceful assembly, free expression, and public participation in environmental decision-making is completely unacceptable. The incident has reignited national debate in Kenya over the balance between infrastructure development and the protection of critical natural heritage, particularly as political actors gear up for the 2027 general election.

NAIROBI, Kenya — A high-stakes environmental demonstration in Kenya’s capital has drawn international attention after former Chief Justice David Maraga was taken into custody on Monday during a protest against controversial planned construction inside Nairobi National Park. Maraga, who joined dozens of fellow activists in a peaceful sit-in demonstration along a busy arterial road just outside the park’s main entrance, was detained temporarily before being released shortly afterward. On the day of his arrest, he posted a statement on social media platform X confirming he was detained while en route to submit a formal petition to the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), the government agency charged with managing the country’s protected natural areas.

Dressed in a green protest t-shirt matching those worn by other demonstrators, Maraga emphasized in his post-protest remarks that Kenya’s irreplaceable national heritage and wild ecosystems demand robust protection from unaccountable development motivated by private greed. He condemned the proposed project for moving forward without meaningful public input, a common grievance among activists challenging land use changes in protected spaces across the country.

Hundreds of activists converged on the protest site to oppose two linked initiatives: the planned construction within the boundaries of Nairobi National Park and the proposed relocation of an on-site orphanage. Protesters argue the entire initiative is a covert effort to seize public land for private gain, a longstanding contentious issue in Kenya that has repeatedly sparked pushback from environmental and community advocates. For decades, environmental organizers have spoken out against incremental encroachment on national parks, urban green spaces, and other protected public lands, warning that unsustainable development erodes both Kenya’s natural heritage and public access to critical green infrastructure.

Amnesty International’s Kenya branch quickly issued a statement of solidarity with the demonstrators, backing their demands for transparent public participation in all decisions that impact the country’s environmental heritage. The human rights organization stressed that Nairobi National Park, one of Kenya’s most iconic urban protected areas, is not a commodity to be developed for private profit. “Our public spaces, our environment, and our rights cannot be traded away behind closed doors,” the group’s statement read.

In a preemptive response released one day before the protest, the KWS pushed back against allegations of land grabbing, framing the proposed construction as a beneficial public project. The agency explained the work is part of an official plan to expand the existing orphanage within the park and upgrade visitor facilities to improve the overall experience for tourists and local visitors. As of Tuesday, law enforcement authorities have not issued any public statement explaining the rationale for Maraga’s arrest, leaving lingering questions about the treatment of peaceful environmental activists in the country.

BUNIA, Democratic Republic of Congo — Weddings in eastern Congo are traditionally vibrant, day-long affairs filled with warm embraces, crowded dance floors, and hundreds of joyful well-wishers gathering to celebrate a couple’s new chapter. But as the country grapples with a deadly Ebola outbreak that has already claimed 91 lives among more than 500 confirmed cases, the rituals of marriage have been fundamentally reshaped by life-saving public health restrictions. Even so, love finds a way to prevail.

The current outbreak, driven by the rare Bundibugyo Ebola virus, is centered entirely in Ituri, an eastern province of the DRC. Local and national health authorities have moved quickly to curb transmission, rolling out strict measures that include bans on large public gatherings and mandatory social distancing protocols. Unlike previous Ebola outbreaks, this strain has no approved vaccine or targeted treatment, and a weeks-long delay in confirming the outbreak means actual case counts are likely higher than official numbers, making response efforts all the more challenging.

For Jean Claude Érable and his new wife Solange Hahati, who exchanged vows on a recent Saturday, these restrictions transformed one of life’s most celebrated milestones. The couple originally planned to welcome 300 guests to their big day, but local rules capped attendance at just 50, forcing many beloved family members and close friends to miss the ceremony. “It was really difficult because we wanted to celebrate with our friends,” Hahati shared in an interview with the Associated Press, reflecting on the disappointment of the scaled-back event.

At the main Catholic Church in Bunia, Ituri’s provincial capital, where Érable and Hahati’s wedding was held, multiple couples celebrated their marriages alongside the pair on the same day. Inside the sanctuary, the small group of attending guests stayed spaced apart in their pews, following social distancing guidelines as the choir sang and brides walked down the aisle. Cheering and photo-taking still filled the space, while a larger crowd of uninvited guests gathered outside the church walls to sing excitedly for the newlyweds.

Despite the scaled-back celebration, the groom emphasized that the couple has fully embraced the public health rules to protect their community. “We are adhering to the preventive measures and respecting social distancing,” Érable said. “I must say that there is no problem, no obstacle, because we are doing our best to respect all the measures dictated by the state.”

After the ceremony, as Érable placed the wedding ring on his bride’s finger, Hahati smiled through the moment. Following the mass, she happily showed off her new ring to waiting onlookers before the couple departed for their reception, which they moved outdoors to allow guests to spread out more comfortably and lower transmission risk.

Father Aimé Lokanabego, the priest who officiated the wedding, explained that adapting daily religious and community life has become a necessity amid the crisis. Many families have already chosen to postpone their upcoming weddings entirely rather than hold them under restrictions, he said, and the church has paused other high-risk religious gatherings, including large baptism ceremonies, to slow the spread of the virus. “This is, in a way, how we are dealing with this Ebola epidemic at our level. The situation is critical,” Lokanabego noted.

Across Ituri, these precautions, while inconsistently followed by all members of the public, have upended long-held social traditions that bind communities together. For couples like Érable and Hahati, that means a different wedding than they ever imagined — but still a celebration of love that persists even in a public health crisis.