A television campaign aimed at raising awareness on human
trafficking in the Middle East will be launched by IOM on 20 March.

The campaign, using a 30-second TV spot to be aired on the
Arabic channel of Al Jazeera, is the first of its kind in the
region.

The spot, to be shown at least twice every evening before the
1800 and 2100 news bulletins, shows the various forms of human
trafficking including the exploitation of domestic workers and
children, sex exploitation, forced labour and the trading of human
organs.

The campaign, funded by the European Union, promotes the message
that trafficking is a crime rejected by all religions and human
values and that we must all "Say NO to trafficking people".

According to the 2010 Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP
Report), issued by the US State Department's Office to Monitor and
Combat Trafficking in Persons (G/TiP), human trafficking continues
to be a major challenge throughout the Middle East with all
countries affected as either origin, transit and/or destination
countries. Although the issue is being increasingly acknowledged by
authorities in the region, there is still little awareness of what
remains a highly sensitive subject among the public.

Displaced populations and children in particular are among the
most vulnerable to trafficking in the region largely due to
demographic, cultural and socio-economic factors.

For more information please contact:

Elna Sondergaard

IOM Damascus

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

or

Kinda Katranji

Delegation of the European Union to Syria

E-mail: "mailto:kinda.katranji@ec.europa.eu">kinda.katranji@ec.europa.eu