IOM has signed an agreement with the Royal Norwegian Ministry of
Foreign Affairs to implement a 17-month programme in Angola to
provide comprehensive counter- trafficking and human rights
training to hundreds of Angolan law enforcement and immigration
officials.

The USD 300,000 programme aims to train 570 police officers,
immigration and law enforcement officials to allow them to better
recognize, respond to, and document instances of human
trafficking.

The project also includes capacity building exercises,
roundtables, site visits, and the development of
counter-trafficking material.

"The overall goal of the project is to increase awareness on
human rights issues and to fight human trafficking in Southern
Africa," explains Katharina Schnöring, IOM's Chief of Mission
in Angola.  "It also aims to reduce the number of victims
trafficked within, to and from Angola through the training of key
law enforcement officials and by raising awareness amongst the
general public."

After three decades of armed conflict, which ended in April 2002
with the signing of a peace agreement, Angola's economy and its
natural resources – which is growing at one of the
world's highest rates – has generated new migration flows of
asylum seekers, irregular workers and trafficked persons to and
from Angola. 

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Index, which
ranks the world's 170 impoverished countries, lists Angola as the
161st.  While post-war Angola currently lacks the
institutional capacity to track statistical data, ample anecdotal
evidence shows that extreme poverty and lack of opportunities in
Angola make it easy for traffickers to lure girls, boys, and women
with false promises of employment and educational
opportunities.  Recruitment is often carried out through
acquaintances, friends or even family members.  Once firmly
trapped within a controlled and/or disorienting environment, the
victim is forced into sexual exploitation or forced labour.

According to the 2008 US Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report,
women and girls are trafficked within the country for domestic
servitude and sexual exploitation, while young men are trafficked
internally for agricultural and other unskilled labour.  The
report also points to South Africa, the Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Namibia, and Portugal as the primary destination points for
Angolans who are trafficked across international borders.

For more information, please contact:

Katharina Schnöring

IOM Angola

Tel: +244 222 311 273

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