IOM Director General William Lacy Swing this week visited a shelter
for victims of human trafficking in Kuala Lumpur and pledged IOM's
help in reviewing Malaysia's counter trafficking laws.

At a meeting with Minister of Home Affairs Datuk Seri
Hishammuddin Hussein in Putrajaya on Wednesday, Swing also agreed
to back a Home Ministry plan to set up an international training
academy on Langkawi Island to address transnational crime,
including human trafficking.

Speaking at a Ministry of Women, Family and Community
Development shelter, during a visit hosted by Women's Minister Y.B.
Senator Dato' Sri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, Swing said that IOM was
working in close partnership with the ministry and shared its goal
to constantly improve assistance to trafficked women and children
in shelters.

IOM's 800 counter trafficking projects in 85 countries have
helped more than 20,000 trafficking victims since 1994. Its
programmes have included preventive information campaigns; helping
governments to introduce counter trafficking legislation, training
thousands of police officers, immigration officials, lawyers and
health workers and supporting victim protection systems, including
the creation of shelters.

During the visit to the shelter, Swing made a small donation of
US$5,000 to the over 100 residents from IOM's Sasakawa Endowment
Fund.

IOM is currently implementing a one-year US-funded project in
Malaysia designed to improve assistance to victims of trafficking
in shelters and to facilitate their return and reintegration to
their countries of origin.

The project has completed an assessment of three government and
two NGO shelters and has facilitated the return of five Vietnamese,
Myanmar and Moldovan victims in the past six months. A Ugandan
woman is also scheduled to return home shortly.

For more information, please contact:

Valerie Dourdin-Fernandez

IOM Kuala Lumpur

Tel.: +60.9235-5552

E-mail: "">vdourdin@iom.int