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AIRCOP training on Human Trafficking in International Airports in Jamaica

From 18 to 20 June 2018, in Kingston Jamaica, the Airport Communication Project, in collaboration with UK Immigration Enforcement and UN Women, facilitated a training on Human Trafficking in International Airports, for AIRCOP Joint Airport Interdiction Task Forces (JAITFs) in Jamaica, as well as representatives of airline companies.

Trafficking in persons is an extremely serious crime. Generating illicit profits of $ 32 billion USD every year, it is the third most lucrative criminal activity, after drug and arms trafficking.
In March 2018, joining countries that openly recognize human trafficking as a threat to human dignity and human, Jamaica became the first Caribbean nation to join the  Blue Heart Campaign against Human Trafficking, an international awareness-raising initiative developed by UNODC to encourage involvement and action to help prevent this crime.

The AIRCOP training provided support to the Jamaican Government in its effort to combat human trafficking. It aimed at providing participants with knowledge and skills to detect and prevent this scourge, with close attention being paid to gender and human rights as important factors to which attention should be paid in all actions taken to combat this crime.

Through the establishment, training and mentoring of Joint Airport Interdiction Task Forces (JAITFs), AIRCOP, funded by the European Union and implemented by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in partnership with INTERPOL and the World Customs Organization (WCO), aims at promoting intelligence and information sharing between law enforcement agencies at the national and international level, as well as at strengthening law enforcement capacities at international airports to detect and intercept drugs, other illicit goods and high-risk passengers (including foreign terrorist fighters and victims of human trafficking), in origin, transit and destination countries, with the overall objective of disrupting criminal networks.

In Jamaica, AIRCOP JAITFs are currently operational at the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston and the Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay. The JAITFs at each airport are composed of officers from the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), the Jamaica Customs Agency (JCA) and the Jamaica Passport, Immigration and Citizenship Agency (PICA), and are supported by the Jamaica Civil Aviation Agency (JCAA) and the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF).