Police, public servants trained to combat people trafficking

POLICE officers, government officers and non-governmental agencies have been trained on “combating trafficking in persons and victim referral pathways”.
Department of Justice and Attorney-General (DJAG) Secretary Dr Lawrence Kalinoe said: “When DJAG came into partnership with International Organisation for Migration (IOM) to initiate the Papua New Guinea counter-trafficking in persons project in 2010, there was no firm government response to combating human trafficking.
“Stakeholder agencies that form the national human trafficking committee have been working tirelessly to raise awareness on the issues, assist with cases and
coordinate with implementing agencies to ensure effective implementation of the trafficking in persons provisions in the Criminal Code.
“It is an achievement to see that more people in the provinces are now able to identify cases of human trafficking within their communities and make appropriate referrals to assist a victim and bring an offender to justice.
“We now recognise the importance of such training and the need for government and law-enforcement personnel to understand the topics at hand.”
“Training was carried out in target provinces which were selected after consultations with stakeholders at both the government and non-governmental level owing to the presence of land and sea borders and industries where potential exploitation could occur.”
Training ran from Februaryto October, with a total of 15
sessions in Morobe, West Sepik, Madang, Milne Bay, West New Britain and Eastern Highlands.
They raised awareness on both the issue of human trafficking and referral pathways to respond to suspected cases of trafficking.
While speaking on partnership and the work on combating trafficking in Papua New Guinea, IOM’s chief of mission Lance Bonneau, said: “Such training was critical in building a common understanding of various trafficking crime types and strengthening coordination in responding to suspected cases of exploitation, so that victims can be rescued and criminals brought to justice.”
Department of Justice and Attorney-General and Organisation for Migration partnered with the Family Sexual Violence Action Committee specifically to raise awareness about the referral networks in each province for responding to potential victims of trafficking, as well as other responses addressing gender and family based violence, child protection and legal protection.
Funding support came from the European Union.