IOM Deputy Director General Ndioro Ndiaye will today inaugurate an
Operational Centre to Combat Human Trafficking in Bogota.

The Centre, which will provide protection for victims of
trafficking and promote the identification and prosecution of
traffickers, will coordinate the efforts of all Colombian agencies
working to combat human trafficking.

It will have a permanent staff made up of Colombia's
Administrative Security Department (DAS), the National Police and
the Office of the Attorney General.

"I am particularly pleased to witness this pioneering initiative
by the Government of Colombia, and to see the cooperative spirit
which has brought together 14 different institutions," said Mme.
Ndiaye.

The Centre, which will receive funding from the US State
Department and technical support from IOM and the United Nations
Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), was created by the
Inter-institutional Committee Against Human Trafficking in
Colombia, for which the Ministry of the Interior and Justice serves
as the Technical Secretariat.

Colombia is a country of origin for domestic and international
human trafficking.  Women and children are forced into sexual
exploitation, forced labour and domestic servitude. Men and boys
are forced to beg or work in factories, mines and agriculture.

As many as 50,000 Colombian women may have been trafficked
abroad for sexual exploitation, according to DAS/Interpol
estimates.

The US State Department's 2008 Report on Human Trafficking
confirms that the Colombian Government, with support from IOM and
other partners, is fully complying with the minimum standards to
protect victims.  The report also praises the government's
provision of a Free National Hot Line (01 8000 52 20 20) for
victims or potential victims, which has received 34,370 calls since
being set up by IOM in 2003.

IOM Colombia has assisted more than 250 victims since its
counter-trafficking programme began in 2001.

For more information, please contact:

Jorge Andres Gallo

IOM Bogota

Tel: + 57.1.594.6410 ext. 142

Mobile: + 57.311 561 94 95

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