By Astou Jawara
A four-day training to build the capacity of criminal justice practitioners in combating trafficking in persons, organized by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in coordination with the Gambia’s Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and National Agency Against Trafficking in Persons (NAATIP), is underway at Senegambia Beach Hotel in Kololi.
The event would run from 9th to 12th November, 2021, and the capacity building initiative has been made possible by the US Government, through the US State Department Office to Monitor and Combat Human Trafficking.
As The Gambia remains on the US Trafficking in Persons (TiP) Report’s Tier 2 Watch list, and one of the primary reasons being a lack of prosecution of traffickers, the training aims to contribute significantly to the counter-trafficking efforts in The Gambia by strengthening capacities for prosecution.
{It would be noted that, Tier Two Watchlist signifies that The Gambian government does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so, as per the newly-released 2021 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report. The report, produced annually by the United States Department of State as required by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), ranked The Gambia just above the lowest possible ranking.]
Significantly, the training is to improve the understanding of prosecutors and law enforcement officials about the trend, problems and challenges in combating human trafficking in the Gambia, and enhance their capacities in better protection of the rights of victims and witnesses in the administration of criminal justice.
Mr. Stephen Matete, the Programme Officer for Immigration Border Management and Counter Trafficking at the IOM, is optimistic that at the end of the training, participants would be able to understand concepts of Trafficking in Persons (TiP) and also be able to identify potential, and vigorously investigate and prosecute trafficking in persons cases.
“Through this project, IOM has supported the government of The Gambia to revive the National Task Force on Trafficking in Persons; supported four One-Stop Centers (Bakoteh, Edward Francis Hospital, Kanifing Hospital and Bansang Hospital) with supplies to assist victims of trafficking to access immediate medical and psycho-social support,” he highlighted.
Mr. Kebba Touray, Political and Economic Assistant at the US Embassy Banjul, said US government’s financial and technical assistance to a country largely depends on its ranking in a particular year, noting The Gambia been stuck between the Tier 2 watchlist and Tier 3 in recently years, is not due to lack of efforts.
He acknowledged that the government of The Gambia through NAATIP, in collaboration with the IOM, had worked tirelessly to ensure the recommendations in the annual report are being implemented.
The Executive Director of NAATIP, Madam Tulai Jawara-Ceesay, said her institution is working with countries over the world to address the menace across borders.
In this respect, she called for concerted efforts on coordination, involving all stakeholders in the fight against human trafficking in the Gambia, and to help tackle the menace in our society.
Ms. Kumba Jow, the Curator of Inter-State Estates at the Ministry of Justice, who represented the Attorney General and Minister of Justice at the event, submitted that human trafficking, a form of modern days slavery, is a terrible menace to society that involves the use of force, violence, and fraud.
“It is extremely difficult to come up with precise figures on the issue of trafficking in persons due to the clandestine nature of the operations, and [therefore,] a number of cases go on detected.
It is very scary that a good number of the victims of human trafficking are children,” Justice ministry official added.
