Khartoum – On 17th September, 15 judges, lawyers and police officers attended a 5-day training on Investigating and Prosecuting Trafficking in Persons at the Sudan Judicial and Legal Science Institute. The trainers included senior members of the Sudan Criminal Justice System, from the Judiciary, Criminal Prosecution Services and the Police Force. The trainers previously participated in a 10-dayTraining of Trainers Workshop held in July and were also involved in developing the curriculum during a Curriculum Development Workshop in May 2017. This training is part of a set of learning activities and workshops that started in June 2017 and aim to develop the participants’ capacities in investigating and prosecuting human trafficking cases more effectively. This joint venture between IOM and the Sudan Judicial and Legal Science Institute is part of the United Kingdom’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s funded ‘Strengthening the Capacity of the Criminal Justice System in Sudan to Address Human Trafficking’ Project.

This training which is still in its pilot phase will be replicated in the coming months in other states across Sudan and then finalized before formal endorsement by the Judicial and Legal Science Institute which is the Government of Sudan’s body responsible for providing professional training to judges and prosecutors. Dr. Elsara Elrashid, one of the trainees, stated that “the workshop was very useful because the trainers were able to share their knowledge from the previous TOT and communicate very well their experiences”. The participants agree on the need to continue developing their capacities to strengthen their skills in identifying the cases of human trafficking and provide more legal protection to the victims.

The workshop was designed and facilitated by IOM Sudan’s international expert on anti-trafficking, Phil Marshall, IOM staff and national legal expert and defense lawyer, Rifaat Makkawi, and national psychosocial expert, Omer Saad. The curriculum for the training program will be complemented with the elaboration of training materials targeting legal practitioners.

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For further information, please contact Andrew GRAY; Tel: +249-156554; Email: ajgray@iom.int