Follow Us on Google
From Okwe Obi, Abuja
The Economic and Community of West African State (ECOWAS), Institute for Security Studies (ISS) and the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime (GI-TOC) are to organise a 2-day training on trafficking know as the Organized Crime: West African Response to Trafficking (OCWAR-T) project.
The Representative of GIZ, Ms Abigail Gyimah, in a statement yesterday, said the workshop would take place in Abidjan in Cote D’Ivoire in July this year, which would include an option for the sustainability of the West African Organized Crime Research Network (WARNOC).
According to her, the objectives of these meetings are, on the one hand, to strengthen the capacities of WARNOC members on the intersection between crime, conflicts and instability, and on the other hand, to explore options to sustain and ensure full functioning of the network and its operation beyond the OCWAR-T project.
Gyimah, recalled how civil society and non-state actors are at the center of formal and localized responses to organized criminal activities in West Africa.
She added that the establishment of WARNOC under the OCWAR-T project, is a part of regional strategy to work with non-governmental organisations and civil society to ensure efficient and multi-pronged response to organised crime in the region.
Also, ISS Senior Researcher and Project Coordinator, Dr. Ndubuisi Christian Ani, indicated that WARNOC members have added significant value to national and regional solutions by promoting analysis and responses to organized crime in West Africa.
Ani explained that during these two days of seminars, recommendations and strategies would be provided by the participants in order to ensure the continuity and sustainability of this network and it’s activities.
He added that WARNOC remains a growing network with vast opportunities to contribute to organised crime responses in West Africa.
WARNOC was established under the OCWAR-T project which is a programme of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), co-financed by the European Union and the government of the Federal Republic from Germany and coordinated by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).
