On Wednesday, 16 March 2022, the RSO was invited to take part in the University of the South Pacific (USP) postgraduate course on International Cooperation, Partnerships and the Border Security Context.
As part of their postgraduate degree in border security, 24 students representing immigration and law enforcement agencies in the Pacific joined this two-hour session to learn more about trafficking in persons, smuggling of migrants and the role of local, regional and international stakeholders in securing a country’s borders.
Presenting on the subject of Transnational Organized Crime, Mr. Bill Laidlaw – Programme Coordinator at the RSO – provided an overview of major transnational crime types found in the Pacific region before narrowing the focus to trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants. Participants were given the opportunity to discuss in small groups and share their thoughts on the reasons behind irregular migration and the consequences of human trafficking and people smuggling. Mr. Laidlaw finished off the session with a discussion on inter-agency and international cooperation and stressed its importance in combatting transnational crimes.
The RSO would like to thank Mr. Tevita Tupou and the USP for the opportunity to take part in this course. We look forward to continuing to engage with the Pacific region so that we can all move closer to our common goal of combatting trafficking in persons, people smuggling and related transnational crime.
