Timeframe: October 2023 to October 2025
Budget: USD 950,000
Donor: US Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL)
The situation
Trafficking in human beings is a lucrative and fast-growing form of crime that involves the recruitment of victims by various means such as violence, deception, coercion or force for the sole purpose of exploitation.
Traffickers use increasingly sophisticated and tailored methods to target and exploit vulnerable people with profound disregard for human life and dignity.
In West Africa, one common type of human trafficking is in the exploitation for labour purposes. This can take a variety of forms depending on the country. For instance, forced labour in agricultural fields, mining and fisheries is prevalent across West Africa, while forced child begging remains an issue in the Sahel region.
A shared characteristic is the vulnerability of people in socioeconomic terms, coupled with challenges on the part of the State to regulate, identify and police illicit practices due to a lack of tools and resources.
About the project
The overall objective of the THB West Africa project is to enhance the capacity of law enforcement agencies and judiciary actors in the following areas:
- Strengthen the investigative capacity of law enforcement agencies in West Africa
- Improve knowledge and understanding of current forms of THB in beneficiary countries,
- Increase the capacity of law enforcement and judicial actors to investigate and prosecute cases of THB,
- Deepen inter-institutional and international cooperation on human trafficking,
- Achieve immediate operational results by targeting criminals and protecting victims.
- Extend the existing Human Trafficking Expert Group (HTEG)
The beneficiary countries are Côte d’Ivoire, Gambia, Liberia, Senegal and Sierra Leone.
Project activities
The project is made up of three phases.
- Strategic assessment and environmental scan. The results of this research and a needs analysis, will be used to tailor the project activities. In-depth research into the prosecution of THB cases and the victim protection system in the region will contribute to a final assessment report.
- Capacity building. Training activities will be delivered to a number of participants (law enforcement officials, prosecutors, and judges) including specialized topics, table-top exercises and train-the-trainer activities.
- Investigative and operational support. The project will work to advance a number of cases through the use of INTERPOL police capabilities, tools, and THB criminal analysis capability, culminating in an operational exercise.