The UN Office on Drugs and Crime in collaboration with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) trained criminal justice practitioners on how to deal with human trafficking in Swakopmund, a coastal town of Namibia on Monday.
Speaking at the opening of the workshop, Innocentia Nyoni, a representative from the office of the Prosecutor General of Namibia said that law enforcement on human trafficking crimes in the country had been low.
“To date there has only been one conviction on human trafficking in Namibia. This indicates that we need training for this crime in Namibia,” said Nyoni.
More than 35 participants were drawn countrywide from the prosecution, the police, immigration, customs and excise, labour and social workers.
Human trafficking is said to be the third largest international crime industry behind illegal drugs and arms trafficking.
The workshop focused mainly on equipping the participants with the skills to detect and investigate cases of human trafficking; skills to assist and protect victims of this crime as well as to prosecute offenders.
Also speaking at the occasion, the IOM Namibia’s officer in charge, Sascha Nlabu said that the real statistics of human trafficking victims is unknown as the majority of these cases are never reported.
“I encourage you all to continue to increase your efforts in order to ensure that the victims of human trafficking are adequately identified and assisted and perpetrators persecuted,’’ said Nlabu. (Xinhua/NAN)
