Child protection and human rights defenders have called for better transnational cooperation in the fight against child trafficking.

They made the plea on Monday at a meeting in Banjul for child protection experts in the Ecowas subregion. 

The meeting was organised by the West Africa Regional Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (WARO-OHCHR). 

Mrs. Bintou HK Fatty, director of Children Affairs of the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Welfare of The Gambia, told the delegates that they are seeking out to create a safe environment where “every child can grow and flourish in dignity; where violence and abuse of children is legally prohibited and socially unacceptable.”

She added that the technical meeting was an opportunity “to share the experiences and best practices of countries and their partners, to define priority advocacy actions to address the issue of transnational mobility of trafficked children.”

Mrs. Jagne Siga, ECOWAS Commissioner for Social Affairs, insisted on the importance of a regional approach for the harmonisation of legal and institutional frameworks relating to the protection of children and the promotion of their rights in the beneficiary countries.

Similarly, Mrs. Aminata Kébé, Regional Coordinator of the WARO-OHCHR, recalled the progress made by the project, mainly through the support of legal and institutional reforms in the beneficiary countries, but also the implementation of the recommendations of human rights protection mechanisms.

According to Ms Kebe, this has allowed: “the strengthening of access and quality of services with the equipment of nearly 47 childcare centres in the beneficiary countries, the provision of 3,330 dignity kits to children for protection against COVID-19”, but also and above all “support for the identification and family reintegration of 125 children between Senegal, Gambia, Guinea and Guinea Bissau. 

This results to the partnership that brought together governments and regional partners such as the Network for the Protection of Children in Transnational Mobility in West Africa.