| Syazwani Hj Rosli |
THE Youth Against Slavery Brunei (YAS Brunei) yesterday launched a two-day conference titled ‘Combating Trafficking in Persons’ conference (CTIP 2018) at ICTC2 Gallery, Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD).
The conference was inaugurated by guest of honour of the event Yang Berhormat Iswandy bin Ahmad, a member of the Legislative Council. Also present during the event was the High Commissioner of Bangladesh to Brunei Darussalam Air-Vice Marshal (Rtd) Mahmud Hussain.
The opening ceremony began with the recitation of Surah Al-Fatihah and Doa Selamat followed by a welcoming remark from the Co-founder of YAS Brunei Amal Kasibah binti Bahari.
She highlighted that the annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report showed that Brunei has advanced from being only a transit country to being both a transit and destination country – in other words, “there are people that are brought to Brunei to be trafficked or exploited, adding that it is our ultimate goal to change this status for Brunei”.
According to her, the conference will focus on the most vulnerable groups of people such as children and young people and discuss how they are made more vulnerable by means of cybersecurity breaches.
“This conference aims to deliberate on how to safeguard these groups of people,” she added.
Amal Kasibah further highlighted that the conference is to shine more light on human trafficking and modern day slavery and take actions to end exploitation.
“Together, we will create a more aware generation that strives to eliminate human trafficking. If we collaborate, we can each contribute a strand to form a safety net for trafficking victims and a web in which to catch perpetrators,” she said.
The first day of the conference yesterday featured a plenary session attended by Air-Vice Marshal (Rtd) Mahmud Hussain; Acting Head of Human Trafficking Investigation Unit, Criminal Investigation Department of the Royal Brunei Police Force (RBPF) Assistant Superintendent Ivy Han; Project Coordinator of Young Health Programme at Lentera Anak Foundation in Indonesia Margianta Surahman Juhanda Dinata; and representatives from the Labour Department, Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA).
The two-day conference will see breakout sessions on topics including ‘Identifying Victims of Trafficking in Persons’ presented by the Human Trafficking Unit, ‘Awareness and Cybercrime’ by BruCert of ITPSS Sdn Bhd and ‘Combating Trafficking in Persons with Technology’ by Emancipate Indonesia, among others.
The second day will feature a plenary session on ‘Trafficking in Persons and Labour Law Violations’, led by panel speakers including members of the Human Trafficking Unit, Attorney General’s Chambers and the Labour Department, followed by a resolution presentation on the breakout session.
The guest of honour at the closing ceremony at Progresif Headquarters in Gadong today will be Acting Director of the Criminal Investigation Department of RBPF ACP Dato Paduka Haji Awang Mohammad Hassan bin Pehin Penyurat Haji Ahmad.