Nine Senior Namibian immigration officers have completed a two-week training of trainers course in the Namibian capital, Windhoek, focusing on migration management, counter-trafficking and passport examination procedures.

The nine officers who come from four immigration zones will help to train 225 of their colleagues after completing the course.

Based on Namibia's Immigration Standard Operational Procedures Manual, the training, which was funded by the IOM Development Fund and ends today ((10/8), was organized by IOM at the request of Namibia’s Home Affairs and Immigration Ministry.

It was designed to help the officers to better understand migration management and human trafficking in a Namibian context, to enable them to identify victims and refer them to appropriate agencies. Participants are expected to subsequently train other immigration and police officers in these fields. 

A vast country with porous borders, Namibia is an important transit country for migrants heading to South Africa and is also a final destination for migrants from neighbouring countries.

As a result, its immigration services are overstretched and need capacity building, particularly in the areas of border control, migration management and counter-trafficking.

The US State Department’s 2012 annual report on Trafficking in Persons placed Namibia on its Tier 2 watch list, citing the country’s failure to convict and prosecute those involved in human trafficking. Tier 2 indicates that Namibia does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, but is making significant efforts to do so.

The report identified various forms of trafficking in the country, including exploitation of children from Angola, Zambia and Zimbabwe for forced labour in agriculture, cattle herding, fishing, domestic servitude and prostitution.

For more information, please contact 

Elham Pourazar
IOM Namibia
Tel: +264 81 656 8189
Email: epourazar@iom.int