Campaign on Human Trafficking Launched

The Minister of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs Mr. Stephen Gaojia (in photo) has launched a campaign to scale up awareness on human trafficking.

Speaking at the launching ceremony which was held at the usual Thursday press conference in the Youyi Building conference hall of the ministry of information and communication, the campaign, which is designed to build on the training and public awareness exercise that has been carried out over the years, is aimed at raising awareness among Sierra Leone’s population about the dangers of human trafficking and ways to prevent it.

The Minister said SMS text messages, jingles, radio/TV talk shows, posters and bill boards will be used to reach to the public.

He said the ministry and partners are also strengthening the Trafficking in Person (TIP) secretariat based in the ministry as well as the data collection and storage system on human trafficking at two levels for effective monitoring and reporting.  In addition the minister stated monitoring and coordination mechanisms are being put in place to strengthen the entire child protection system, from community to national level as part of measures to combat child trafficking.

Mr. Gaojia said human trafficking poses a serious risk in the country, but Sierra Leone, he went on, is committed to fighting human trafficking as no country is immune from this form of modern day slavery.  He said what the country needs now is heightened public awareness to help government tackle the problem.  He stated that the government cannot do it alone and that the help of ordinary citizens is needed to fight human trafficking in the country.  The minister called on journalists, social workers, law enforcement officers, prosecutors, and civil society activists to know the importance of the crime of human trafficking, hence the launching of the human trafficking awareness raising campaign to identify and protect victims and punish the perpetrators.

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