Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Anti-human trafficking training for Jamaican officials

imageForty Jamaican police and immigration officials, prosecutors and judges start a two-day training course today to improve their ability to combat the scourge of human trafficking.

KINGSTON, Jamaica, – Forty Jamaican police and immigration officials, prosecutors and judges start a two-day training course today to improve their ability to combat the scourge of human trafficking.

The seminar being delivered by the Organization of American States (OAS) on December 15 and 16 in Kingston has been designed to increase participants’ awareness of the crime of trafficking in persons and strengthening their efforts to prevent and fight it.

The OAS organisers described trafficking in persons as a modern form of slavery and a violation of basic human rights involving coercive sexual exploitation, forced labor and involuntary servitude.

The OAS program, “Strengthening the Capacity of Law Enforcement Officials, Judges and Prosecutors in the Caribbean to Identify and Combat Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children,” is being implemented in 13 English-speaking Caribbean countries.

During the two-day training seminar, led by OAS anti-trafficking in persons experts, officials will look at areas such as the distinction between trafficking and smuggling; crime scene management; victim identification, assistance and protection; standard operating procedures for immigration control; understanding the gender perspective as part of the human rights framework; and how trafficking in persons affects men, women, boys and girls in different ways.

The OAS stated that it is working to strengthen the capacity of police, prosecutors and courts to implement laws to combat this crime, increase the exchange of information among Caribbean agencies working to tackle this threat, and improve the capacity of law enforcement officers to protect and provide assistance to victims.

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