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Add to Preferred SourcesThe UN Migration Agency (IOM), in partnership with the Government of Burundi, has conducted a series of training sessions for 100 law enforcement officers on understanding, investigating and preventing human trafficking and on identifying and supporting victims.
The three training sessions, in Burundi’s capital, Bujumbura, aimed to equip frontline police officers with essential counter-trafficking knowledge and skills. Led by the IOM African Capacity Building Centre (ACBC), the trainings covered trafficking and smuggling and how they differ, and provisions of international and national laws on human trafficking. They also focused on investigation techniques, including the detection of fraudulent documents, and victim identification, referral, protection and assistance.
Burundi is a source country for trafficked persons, including adults and children who are coerced into forced labour, domestic servitude, prostitution and other forms of sexual exploitation throughout the region and elsewhere in the world. Internally, children and young adults have been forcibly recruited into armed groups.
“Poverty, unemployment, instability, severe climate events and displacement in Burundi and throughout the region, have contributed to opportunities for traffickers to exploit vulnerable people,” Kristina Mejo, IOM Burundi Chief of Mission.
The police officers at the training were briefed on an ongoing IOM awareness-raising campaign aimed at informing vulnerable populations about the risks of human trafficking and how to avoid being lured into exploitative situations. IOM trainers distributed communication materials to participants, including posters and flyers for use at 17 border posts, police stations and other law enforcement offices. The recent training sessions for law enforcement officers in Burundi build on a first round of counter-trafficking training for government officials last year.
“IOM is pleased to continue working with the Government of Burundi and partners on the fight against human trafficking and helping to inform Burundians of the ills of irregular migration,” Kristina Mejo.
The training sessions were carried out with funding from the Government of Belgium as part of a larger project to promote peace and community dialogue and prevent violent conflict and irregular migration.
Source: IOM. Read full article here.
20 June, 2017