By Ndey Sowe
Under its mandate to combat trafficking in persons (TiP) in The Gambia and as part of its strategy to raise awareness, the National Agency Against Trafficking in Persons (NAATIP) on Tuesday, September 24, 2024, trained members of the Tourism Security Unit on TiP.
The training is aimed at ensuring the identification of victims of TiP and understanding the indicators of human trafficking and the National Referral Mechanisms (NRM).
The training will allow participants to know how to identify the difference between TiP and smuggling and to also know what administrative procedures to take when referring cases to the agency among other things.
In her address to participants, Isatou Dabo, the Executive Director of NAATIP recognized the critical need to prevent human trafficking, protect vulnerable individuals, and prosecute those who commit such severe violations of fundamental human rights. She outlined that her agency remains dedicated to prioritizing the prevention of trafficking, protection of victims, and prosecution of offenders in The Gambia. She disclosed that the fight against human trafficking is a top priority for the government of The Gambia after committing resources to this cause by remaining determined to continue these efforts.
“The Government and NAATIP are resolved to prosecute offenders and create a safe traffick-free environment for people,” she said; adding that her Agency has trained security officers from the Immigration, GPF, State Intelligence Service, Drug Law Enforcement Agency, and the PIU, etc over the past years.
She added that sexual exploitation is a huge problem within the Tourism Development Area (TDAs) where young girls and in most cases men, are seen as sex workers, while not every one of them is engaged in sex work, but instead are victims of TiP.
She underscored the importance of training such a badge to ensure that they can identify victims of TiP, and understand the indicators of human trafficking and also to understand the NRMs associated with it.
She urged participants to be open-minded during the training and to have a better understanding of TiP by the end of the day.
According to the International Labor Organization, human trafficking is the fastest-growing organized crime with approximately $150 billion in annual profits, which traps 40.3 million individuals in slave-like conditions. While it is not compulsory to involve transportation for human trafficking, the transport industry plays a critical role in combating human trafficking because traffickers rely on transportation to recruit, move, or transfer victims of human trafficking for either sex or forced labour.
