APA – Lagos (Nigeria)
The President of the ECOWAS Commission, Dr. Omar Alieu Touray, has said that ECOWAS is committed to ending human trafficking in West Africa.
Speaking at the Regional Conference of ECOWAS Member States on Ending Human Trafficking, in Freetown Sierra Leone from April 25 to 26, Dr. Touray said that the conference was aimed at sharing lessons learnt in the implementation of the Member States’ respective Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Action Plans to improve Protection, Prevention, Prosecution, and Partnerships in the fight against TIP and provide a platform for cross learning and agreement on key value-added interventions in enhancing the implementation of the ECOWAS Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons.
He highlighted that over the years, the ECOWAS Commission has been implementing policies and plans of action that seek to combat Human Trafficking in all its forms.
ECOWAS, he said, would remain by the side of member states at all costs and in all areas, especial in the areas of security, including human security, democracy and good governance.
Declaring the Conference open, the President of the Republic of Sierra Leone, Mr. Julius Maada Bio, underscored that his government has undertaken policy and legal reforms to enhance the fight against Human Trafficking.
“This conference is an opportunity to strengthen regional coordination and cooperation through shared experiences. The roadmap will be a guidepost for the Region, and the jointly agreed upon interventions will reflect and amplify our collective goal to combat Human trafficking” he added.
The Ministers after their closed door Roundtable Meeting adopted the roadmap for the enhanced Combat of Trafficking in Persons in the ECOWAS Region, which will be incorporated into and implemented as a component of the ECOWAS Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children. The roadmap will serve to further enhance the effectiveness of measures already outlined in the ECOWAS Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons.
The statement by the ECOWAS Commission said that the two-day conference, organised by the ECOWAS Commission in collaboration with the Government of the Republic of Sierra Leone, with the support of the African Programming and Research Initiative to End Slavery (APRIES) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), had the theme ‘Charting a way forward for deeper cooperation in ECOWAS to end Human Trafficking’.
It added that the ECOWAS delegation was led by the President of the Commission and that the ECOWAS Commissioner for Human Development and Social Affairs, Prof. Fatou Sow Sarr, Director Humanitarian and Social Affairs Dr. Sintiki T. Ugbe, along with key technical staff members were members of the delegation.
GIK/APA
ECOWAS reiterates commitment to ending Human Trafficking in the Region
