Amnesty welcomes establishment of new group to tackle trafficking

Amnesty International today welcomed the news that the Department of Justice is to establish a new engagement group on human trafficking. The group will bring together the Police Service of Northern Ireland, Health & Social Care agencies and NGOs to work collaboratively to tackle human trafficking in Northern Ireland.
  Grainne Teggart, Northern Ireland Campaigner, stated ‘’Today, on Anti-Trafficking Day, we welcome Justice Minister Ford’s timely announcement that a new engagement group is to be established.  Formal working between NGOs and statutory agencies has been a huge gap in our anti-trafficking efforts in NI.’’  
 
Miss Teggart added ‘’A group, such as this, is something Amnesty has been lobbying for to ensure effective co-ordination of all relevant actors in establishing anti-trafficking policy and programme development.  By working jointly we can avoid duplication, share information, establish best practice, assess emerging trends and establish effective prevention measures’’

Miss Teggart continued ‘’this is good news for everyone working to combat this horrific crime and very bad news for traffickers.“