Cairo, Egypt - The important role of states to combat the transnational threats of human trafficking and migrant smuggling is encapsulated in the existing international and regional normative frameworks, most notably the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its supplementary Palermo Protocols on trafficking and smuggling. Notwithstanding the above, implementation challenges persist: in the African context, many states continue to lack the capacity, resources, data, national legislation and strategy to effectively combat both crimes.
Against this backdrop, CCCPA is organizing its third foundational training course on “Combating Human Trafficking and Smuggling of Migrants” from 09 to 13 February 2020.
The five-day training, developed by CCCPA, targets mid-career African civilian, military and police personnel. It aims to strengthen the capacity of African professionals to address the challenges of human trafficking and smuggling of migrants; and to inform national legislation, strategies and policies on the issue. The training specifically seeks to enhance participants’ understanding of (i) the definitions, root causes and trends of migration flows and exploitation; and (ii) the differences, interlinkages, and implications of human trafficking and smuggling of migrants. Another objective of the simulation-based training is to practically hone the skills of African professionals to identify and investigate cases of human trafficking and migrant smuggling, and cooperate on the regional and international levels to address both crimes.
The sixteen participants work in national governments and regional organizations directly concerned with combating human trafficking and smuggling of migrants. Participants represent source, transit, and destination countries in North, East, and Central Africa, including Egypt, Burundi, Ethiopia, Morocco, Mozambique, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Zambia. Participants also include representatives from the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, and the Africa Prosecutors Association.
To achieve its objectives, CCCPA applies a unique multi-dimensional and integrated approach to training by adopting the 3Ps + 1 paradigm enshrined in the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime. The training covers the four pillars of prevention, protection, prosecution, and partnerships to combat both crimes, while also adopting a development, victim-centered and human-rights based approach when dealing with mixed migration flows.
The training sheds light on African experiences drawn from international, continental and regional cooperation mechanisms to combat both crimes, for origin, transit, or destination countries. National experts from various Egyptian institutions such as the Ministry of Defense, the Public Prosecution Office, the Ministry of Justice, and the Administrative Control Authority, address the role of law enforcement agencies--presenting the Egyptian experience in drafting national laws for combating human trafficking and smuggling of migrants as a successful case study. The training also brings to the fore Egypt’s experience in establishing the National Coordinating Committee for Preventing and Combating Illegal Migration and Trafficking in Persons. Facilitating the training’s thematic discussions are trainers and experts from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the International Organization for Migration, the European Asylum Support Office, and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
The training is based on the Combating Human Trafficking & Smuggling of Migrants Manual and Toolkit developed by CCCPA’s Transnational Threats Program. It comes as part of the activities under the current project “Consolidating Peace, Security and Stability in Africa, 2019-2020”, supported by UNDP and funded by the Governments of Switzerland and Japan.
