By: Nicholas Bass
The Deputy Head of Investigations at the National Agency Against Trafficking In Persons (NAATIP), Tijan Faal, said students are vulnerable to human trafficking.
He added that recent graduates are especially susceptible to the vice.
Faal made this disclosure in a community sensitization training held at Foni Kalaji recently.
The engagement brought together Alkalolu, teachers, and students and the idea was to ramp up their awareness of human trafficking in the country particularly in the border areas, including Kalaji.
“We invite schoolchildren, who are vulnerable to trafficking because after they graduate, they are entitled to further their education in the tertiary institutions because they are so determined and want to have a brighter future,” Mr. Faal pointed out. He added that the need for schoolchildren to continue their education at tertiary institutions is used by traffickers as bait to lure parents by claiming that they(traffickers) can help their children to further their education abroad and in the process, they end up in the hands of human traffickers.
“So, enlightening the local people about this issue will help to reduce the rate of trafficking of their children, especially students,” he stated.
Faal stressed that it is important to enlighten people about human trafficking, especially the local people, adding trafficking is a concern in The Gambia and that NAATIP deems it imperative to fight the vice.
“This initiative will have a great impact because they(participants) will have the idea and knowledge about human trafficking and anytime they get involved in any kind of trafficking, they will be able to easily identify traffickers. This will help them to not agree to give them(traffickers) their children to send them to the Middle East to be trafficked and exploited,” the deputy head of investigations highlighted.
According to him, human trafficking is against the law and any individual involved in it should face the music, adding it is essential to enlighten people about human trafficking.
“Through this awareness(forum), we can be able to combat human trafficking,” he hoped.