By Alhaji Haruna Sani
Vice President of the Republic of Sierra Leone, Dr. Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh has on 26t h April, wrapped up a two-day Regional Conference of ECOWAS Member States to end human trafficking with an amusing messages.
The conference commenced on April 25th April at the Freetown International Conference Centre in Aberdeen, Freetown, on the theme “Charting a way forward for deeper cooperation in ECOWAS to end Human Trafficking.
“This two-day have been an excellent opportunity to bring stakeholders across ECOWAS together to discuss the implementation of their respective action plans and other frameworks to end human trafficking. Couple of years ago, when we took over governance in 2018, it was clearly articulated in that President Bio wants to move the country forward within the context of human capital development and we see our work in addressing trafficking in person as part of the vision of President Bio,” VP Juldeh stated.
Vice President Juldeh Jalloh informed the gathering that the Bio-led Government has done a lot at the national level, including the improvement of legislation, building of capacity and improvement of prosecution.
He said those efforts were only realised at the national level. He said for those efforts to be relevant and create the kind of intended impact that can be desired as country and as region so they should be transformed into a wider regional dynamics on which the conference vision’s was built.
“I am personally happy that the government of Sierra Leone in collaboration with AAPPRIES, IOM and the US State Department for developing such a platform to amplify the effort to fight human trafficking. This conference would not have been possible without your support. We are also very hearty by the participation of ECOWAS Ministers and their various representatives,” VP Juldeh stated.
He also recognizes the immense support of ECOWAS on all fronts to deliver the conference which has resulted in the Freetown Road Map that has been signed on that day.
He said the road map is another tool in the regional tool kits to deepen regional coordination and ensure the enhancement of all efforts to prevent, protect and prosecute and build more strategic partnership.
He thanked all delegates including the organizing committee and all.
“It has been a great opportunity for the Government of President Bio to host such an important conference. We are looking forward to the implementation of the road map and a robust monitoring and evaluation mechanism to ensure that we can measure the result of our joint interventions in the coming months and years,” VP Juldeh concluded.
The Minister of Social Welfare, Madam Baindu Dassama reads the road map developed on enhancing the combat of trafficking in persons in ECOWAS region and the well-written document which demanded actions to end trafficking in the region was unanimously signed by all ministers responsible for combating trafficking in the sub region.
Statements were made by Kameldy Neldjingaye, Deputy Regional Representative United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNDOC) and a video message from Special Representative of the Secretary General on Violence against Children Dr. Najat Maalla M’jid. Both of them expressed unwavering commitments in the fight against trafficking in persons in the ECOWAS sub region.
