By: Fatima Baldeh
The National Agency against Trafficking in Persons (NAATIP) of The Gambia had on Tuesday at MetzyHotel completed a day training of forty (40) law enforcement officers on the national referral mechanism for the protection of vulnerable migrants and TIP victims.
The forty (40) law enforcement officers were drawn from the Gambia Police Force (GPF), the Gambia Immigration Department (GID), the State Intelligence Agency, Customs, Gambia Revenue Authority (GRA), and the Drug Law Enforcement Agency.
The Executive Director (ED) of the National Agency against Trafficking in Persons (NAATIP) IsatouDarboe said during the training session that combating trafficking in persons (TIP) requires concerted efforts by all sectors including the law enforcement agents.
“As we all know trafficking in persons is a burning issue not just in the Gambia but around the world and trafficking has been a trans-national organized crime it requires collaboration from all sectors especially law enforcement within the country,” she stated.
She explained that the national referral mechanism for the protection of vulnerable migrants which includes victims of trafficking in persons is very important for all stakeholders to understand the operations involved in trafficking.
“Stakeholders need to understand what steps they need to take when it comes to victims identification, when it comes to the screaming of these individuals to facilitate the reporting process of trafficking in persons and ultimately help the agency to be able to push more cases that have been investigated and secure more convictions for persons found wanting on trafficking in persons,” Madam Darboe stressed.
In addition, she said that the training has already commenced with forty (40) law enforcement officers from the Gambia Police Force (GPF), the Gambia Immigration Department (GID), the State Intelligence Agency, Customs, Gambia Revenue Authority (GRA), and the Drug Law Enforcement Agency.
“We hope that the training, the information and knowledge that will be passed on to the participants will facilitate the issue of referrals because many times you come across a victims of trafficking, and report cases to the officers at the border, airport, and police stations.”
She outlined that the purpose of the train is to share knowledge with participants who will also be the messenger to their people in various stations in ensuring that the issues of TIP are well understood and handled.
According to her, NAATIP will be training one hundred and twenty (120) law enforcement officers in three different sets and from various regions such asCentral River Region (CRR), Upper River Region (URR), and West Coast Region (WCR) into the first quarter of next year, adding that the first set of forty (40) officers will be drawn from the KanifingMunicipality.
