IOM and the international human resources company Manpower this
week signed an agreement to provide counselling and job training to
victims of trafficking with the aim of supporting their successful
reintegration process and reduce the likelihood of being
re-trafficked.

As part of the agreement, IOM will refer victims of trafficking
and highly vulnerable persons to Manpower to jointly evaluate their
needs and, in agreement with the beneficiaries, define specific
plans and interventions on job placement and training.

The agreement will allow the participants to fully discover and
realize their potential and gain valuable experience about job
search and the labour market. In addition, Manpower has made the
commitment to offer free professional and labour rights
training.

IOM´s reintegration plan for victims of trafficking is a
central pillar of its assistance programme, which includes
protecting the victims and helping them to return to their
countries of origin.

"If the personal, social, and labour conditions in the victims'
home environments are not strengthened, it is almost inevitable
that they will fall back into destitution and exploitation,"
explains Eugenio Ambrosi, IOM's Regional Representative.

The majority of cases of human trafficking recorded in Argentina
are internal, although victims are also brought into the country
from Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Paraguay
and Peru for sexual and labour exploitation.

According to information obtained through its assistance
programme, IOM Buenos Aires confirms an increase in labour
exploitation cases, with more young people being trafficked. Since
its launch in 2002, the programme has assisted 215 persons
including 68 minors. However, IOM believes that the majority of
cases of human trafficking continue to go unreported.

It is expected that with the passage of a new
counter-trafficking legislation, law enforcement and judicial
authorities will be in a better position to investigate and
prosecute traffickers. 

The agreement is part of an ongoing process undertaken by IOM's
Regional Office for the Southern Cone to set up networks to combat
human trafficking in the entire region.

David Arkless , Manpower's Senior Vice President for Corporate
Affairs is a member of IOM's Business Advisory Director created by
IOM's Director General Brunson McKinley.

For further information, please contact:

Elena Solari

IOM Buenos Aires

Tel: +54 11 48 15 51 94

E-mail: "mailto:esolari@iom.int" target="_blank" title=
"">esolari@iom.int

or

Sabrina Roth

E-mail: "mailto:sroth@iom.int" target="_blank" title=
"">sroth@iom.int