Twenty personnel from the National Police and immigration on Monday started training to equip them with the skills necessary to effectively monitor border security. The five-day course, dubbed Smuggling Training and Operations Programme (Stop), is at the Police headquarters in Kacyiru. Stop is an initiative by Interpol to fight human trafficking. It intends to be an operational programme at border posts to raise awareness and equip border staff with basic control measures and standard operational procedures for tracking stolen and lost travel documents database. “This is a tactical course to equip you with more skills in inspection and help you gain maximum knowledge and expertise to guide you in executing your tasks effectively,” Christopher Bizimungu, the head of Criminal Investigations Department, said while opening the course. The course is conducted by experts from Interpol. Although Rwanda has not recorded a case of trade in humans this year, Bizimungu said there is need to keep ahead of such illegal business. Only five cases of human trafficking were recorded last year. Rwanda, he said, is used as a transit route. Human trafficking is modern day slavery. Victims are engaged through deception, force or coercion and used either within or in foreign land. Victims are forced into sexual exploitation, exploitive labour in homes, factories and farms to the benefit of the traffickers. Didier Clergeot, from Interpol, said smuggling and trafficking networks give stolen or lost documents to other people involved in organised crimes. “Well-functioning border control measures impede facilitation of immigration and detect ongoing illegal activities. Hence, good border management regimes have both a preventive and an enforcement potential,” Clergeot said.
