IOM has teamed up with Syracuse University in the USA on a new
initiative that will help Syracuse students to gain practical
experience of development and a better understanding of human
trafficking in Ghana.

As part of the university's eight-week study abroad internship
program, the students will support IOM's counter-trafficking
programme in Ghana.

The IOM project, which focuses on helping children trafficked
for bonded labour in fishing communities along Lake Volta, became
well known in the USA when it featured on the Oprah Winfrey show in
February 2007.

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Various US schools and universities now sponsor rescued
trafficked children, some young as three, who need long-term
reintegration help.

Since the IOM programme began in 2003, 731 children have been
rescued and rehabilitated with donor support.

The Syracuse programme, which will start 30th May, will begin
with a one-week comprehensive cultural orientation on language,
customs, culture and other aspects of daily life in Ghana.

"What the students learn in the orientation will help them to
adapt and will contribute to a successful interaction for both the
communities and the students. The whole experience will provide
them with a unique educational opportunity that they will learn
from and always remember. At the same time, they will be supporting
trafficked children and local communities directly here in Ghana,"
says IOM Ghana Chief of Mission Dyane Epstein.

Students will then spend the following six weeks in a village in
Ghana's Central region. They will mentor and tutor rescued children
as they learn to restart normal lives, and will carry out community
outreach to try and prevent children from being trafficked in the
first place.

This will be followed by a final week in the capital, Accra,
where the students will present proposals countering human
trafficking based on their field work.

All proceeds generated through this initiative will be used to
provide direct support and assistance to trafficked children and
their families.

But funding for IOM's work to rescue, rehabilitate and
reintegrate child victims of trafficking in Ghana is expected to
run out in September, leaving thousands of children in Ghana still
trafficked and forced to work in dangerous and abusive
conditions.

For further information, please contact:

Jo Rispoli

IOM Ghana

E-mail: "mailto:jrispoli@iom.int">jrispoli@iom.int

or

Dyane Epstein

Tel: +233 20-812-6696

Email: "mailto:depstein@iom.int">depstein@iom.int