Botswana – IOM, in close cooperation with Botswana’s Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs, will next week launch a training programme to enhance the capacity of Botswana’s immigration service and will start work on establishing a National Training Centre for immigration officers in the capital Gaborone.

The USD 200,000 project, which is funded by IOM’s Development Fund, will begin with a training of 16 trainers on Monday (18/6). When trained, these officials will train a further 75 officers based at the service’s Gaborone headquarters and at 36 border crossing points.

Next week’s training, which will be led by experts from IOM’s African Capacity Building Centre (ACBC) in Tanzania and IOM’s Regional Office in South Africa, will address a range of migration management issues, including passport verification, to improve border efficiency.

“We believe the trainings will improve migration management, contribute to reduced irregular migration and support the fight against the trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants. It will also contribute to safer migration and the facilitation of regular movement of people,” says IOM South Africa Acting Chief of Mission Dr. Erick Ventura.

IOM will also establish and equip a National Training Centre within existing Government structures for further capacity building by the government. The facility will be equipped with appropriate tools for passport verification procedures and training equipment like UV lamps, magnifiers and IOM’s Passport Examination Procedures Manual.

Botswana, which became an IOM member state in November 2010, has relatively high levels of immigration. It attracts skilled professionals from across Africa and has become a destination for refugees and asylum seekers from the region.

It also experiences irregular migration and is a source and destination country for women and children subjected to forced labour and sex trafficking, according to the US State Department’s 2011 Trafficking in Persons (TiP) Report.

Effective border management systems and procedures recognize that facilitation and control are equally important objectives. They need to facilitate the movement of bona fide travellers in a welcoming and efficient manner. And they need to provide a barrier and disincentive to entry for undesirable travellers or organized crime networks seeking to circumvent migration laws.