KINGSTON, Jamaica – The National Task Force Against Trafficking in Persons (NATFATIP), will be hosting a series of activities during Trafficking in Persons Week, to be observed from July 24 to 30.

Manager of the Trafficking in Persons Secretariat at the Ministry of National Security, Audrey Budhi, said the aim of the activities is to increase public education on human trafficking.

“Although we have been doing well, there are still a number of persons who would need to know some more about trafficking in persons. We also want to use this week to ensure that our partners and people in communities will be made aware of the work of NATFATIP,” Budhi explained.

She noted that the activities will be coordinated with their partners from the other ministries, departments and agencies.

“On Monday and Tuesday one of our key partners will be with us on the road interacting with persons giving out flyers. This will be done with the Anti Trafficking in Persons (ATIP) Vice Squad at the Jamaica Constabulary Force,” Budhi said.

She indicated that further in the week, the Social Development Commission will be engaging communities to educate them about trafficking in persons.

“We believe this will be really good because we will have a lot of young persons in the various communities. We do have a number of radio and television interviews and speaking engagements that the Minister of National Security and our Permanent Secretary will be participating in,” Budhi informed.

Students studying social work at the Portmore Community College will also be engaged by the Ministry. A lecture is planned for the students, which will be recorded and shared on the social media pages of the Ministry.

On Friday, the Minister of State in the Ministry of National Security, Zavia Mayne, and the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry and Chairman of the NATFATIP, Courtney Williams, will be participating with the Office of the Rapporteur for Trafficking in Persons at their seminar.

For his part, Director of Children and Family Programmes at the Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA), Warren Thompson, said that the CPFSA will also be doing activities with children in State care to continue to sensitise them about human trafficking.

“We will be having a movie night for our children, and the movie that we’ll be showing is Sold, which came out in 2014 about a case of child trafficking. We’ll be showing that on Zoom. So, all the youngsters can log in and have a movie night with popcorn,” he said.

Thompson also noted that on Thursday afternoon, the CPFSA will be doing a webinar targeting parents.

“The title for the webinar is ‘Parenting in the Digital Age’. On Friday morning, we’ll be doing another webinar targeting youngsters, not only those in State care but any youngster who is interested. The focus of that webinar will be on being social media smart,” he said.

In the meantime, Budhi noted that a special function is scheduled in Portmore, St Catherine, on July 30.

“So, for us on World Day Against Trafficking in Persons we will be unveiling or refreshing our trafficking in persons billboard, which is located on Port Henderson Road (Back Road) in Portmore, St Catherine. We will unveil the billboard and then have a function to commemorate the day in the evening,” she added.

NATFATIP, which is housed at the Ministry of National Security, was established in 2005. It leads the Government’s efforts to coordinate, implement, monitor and evaluate the national response to Trafficking in Persons.

The week is being observed under the theme ‘Abuse and Use of Technology’, with the tagline ‘Open Your Eyes, Be Wise, Spot them and Stop Them’.

The United Nations declared July 30 as World Day Against Trafficking in Persons.