By: Aja Musu Bah
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes under the PROMIS-Project (UNODC) in partnership with The Gambia Cyber Security Alliance (GCSA), Gambia Immigration Department (GID), the National Agency Against Trafficking in Person (NAATIPO on Sunday, 17 December engaged the Governors of Upper River Region (URR) and Central River Region (CRR) to support the fight against trafficking in persons (TIP) and smuggling of migrants (SOM).
Fatou Geo Barry, the Project Coordinator of UNODC, acknowledged the local authorities for their unwavering support towards the said project, adding that there is need for collective regional advocacy.
She encouraged the local authorities to continuously engage members of their areas to retract the mindset that the youth cannot succeed in the Gambia. She said there are a lot of natural resources which the youth can utilise to develop themselves in the country.
The Project Coordinator of UNODC Nigeria PROMIS-Project, AbimbolaIlesanmi Adewumi said the UNODC research shows that young people between 15 and 35 years mainly venture more into irregular migration.
When it comes to TIP, she said: “Our research has shown that 80% of traffickers are family members and these acts end up destroying families, communities and the nation at large.”
“The local authorities in collaboration with the central government need to use different behavioral change tools in order to grab the attention of the young ones so that they can be able to work hand in glove with them to fix the menace on TIP and SOM. Legislative framework can help disrupt smugglers, criminalise smuggling as well as help in national orientation,” Adewumi said.
The Governor of URR, Samba Bah, said his region is one of the most vulnerable in the country because it only has two official border posts leaving all the other ones porous.
“URR faces three main challenges which includes drug trafficking, human trafficking as well as smuggling of migrants and the rate of which these things are happening is alarming. Youth should have both short and long term vision and not to go lavish in another man’s land bring set back to their own country,” he said.
Governor Bah said the young people should be reoriented to believe in themselves and have the desire to positively contribute to the development of the country.
Nonetheless, Mr Bah asserted that as far as URR is concerned, he promised to be a lead advocator against TIP and SOM.
Sainey Mbaye, the Deputy Governor of Janjabureh and AlieuSarr, the Regional Coordinator for the National Environment Agency (NEA) both stated that the central government should come up with more employability strategies by allowing investors to build factories in the region and as well boost the agricultural sector because their lands are arable and fertile.
“The promis-project should not only stop at sensitising the youth, but should as well help them with financial assistance to boost their individual businesses, train them on different skill work so the swelling of TIP and SOM can be repress,” Deputy Governor Mbaye said.
The team continues with their community sensitization in Brikamaba and Jarra Barrow Kunda using caravan tours.
