Post a comment
The Government of Sierra Leone and the Economic Community of West Africa (ECOWAS) is set to organise the Regional Conference for ECOWAS Member States on Ending Human Trafficking.
The Conference is also sponsored by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the African Programming and Research Initiative to End Slavery (APRIES).
The conference is believed to be an evaluation of West African States implementation of action plans geared towards the improving, protection, prevention and partnerships in the fight against Trafficking in Persons (TIP).
Sierra Leone’s President, Julius Maada Bio will open the conference and Vice President, Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh will chair the meeting.
Ministers responsible for the fight against TIP in all ECOWAS’s 15 Member States and Mauritania will attend in order to discuss and evaluate channels used in the previous years.
Dr. Omar Alieu Touray will lead the ECOWAS contingent made up of ECOWAS Commissioner for Human Development and Social Affairs, Prof. Fatou Sow Sarr, Director of Humanitarian and Social Affairs, Dr. Sintiki T. Ugbe and other key staff members.
Ministers from the various West African States will hold round table discussions to combat TIP in the sub-region and share experience and expertise used in the previous year.
Member States are said to discuss thematic issues and emerging trends in child trafficking and proffer solutions to tackle them.
Sierra Leone’s Minister of Social Welfare, Baindu Dassama will also launch the National Referral Mechanism on Victims of Trafficking.
Dassama together with her peers will also adopt a roadmap to combat TIP in the subregion and devising of an ECOWAS Plan of Action to combat TIP.
Every years thousands of West Africans use the Sahel and Sahara Desert to reach North Africa as a transit point to Europe. Hundreds of people have lost their lives crossing the Mediterranean in crowded boats.
