The African
Tourism Organisation (ATO) last Monday openeda new Secretariat at Bijilo village in Kombo North region. The ATOSecretariat in The Gambia will serve as the sub- Regional office for the
sub-Saharan network against Trafficking in Human Begins, illegal migration as
well as drug trafficking.
Speaking at
the press conference, the director general of ATO, Ibiduni Jones, asserted that ATO’s mission is the protection of
trafficked human beings, drug trafficking and childsex tourism. She said that the ATO advocacy office and other international
African agencies, including ATO 13 networks, will also focus on responsible travel
tourism policies, youth development investments, public diplomacy and the
environment. This will be done in partnership with other partners and the InternationalGraduateUniversity in WashingtonDC to create a special African team to
raise awareness, build capacity as collaborative goal to reduce the demand,
using the EU, UKHTC and Nordic Baltic Task Force Model as decided in may 2006.
Also
speaking in role of trafficking Inspector, YA- Mudow Jagne of The Gambia police
force spoke length about how they the police operated in terms of protecting
children from bad tourists in the country. He said when such incidents happen
the parents of the victims willcome
forward and make it difficult for the police in the operational costs.