In the past year IOM Nicaragua has provided return and
reintegration assistance to 30 young Nicaraguan women trafficked to
Guatemala and Mexico for sexual exploitation.

"These young women are very courageous and many of them managed
to flee extremely dangerous situations. One jumped from a balcony
to escape her captors.  So IOM's assistance has to provide the
means for them to heal and to reintegrate socially and
economically," says Berta Fernandez, Head of the IOM Office in
Nicaragua.

So far, ten of the women have successfully completed hairdresser
and beautician training and are now employed. Another nine are
still completing their training.

Once the women returned home to Chinandega, west of Managua,
mobile IOM teams provided them with medical and psychosocial
assistance, as well as vocational training.

IOM also provided support and training to local government
officials and community organizations to ensure the success and
sustainability of the women's reintegration.

 

A two-day workshop, supported by the Regional Conference on
Migration (RCM), designed to strengthen cooperation and increase
capacity amongst government officials, NGOs and other agencies
helping victims of trafficking in the region, will open today in
Managua.

The workshop, the first of its kind in Central America, will
bring together 50 participants from Central and North America, and
from the Dominican Republic.

 

IOM Regional Counter-Trafficking Officer Agueda Marin says that the
training is vital for service providers. "We want the participants
to share best practices so that victim assistance can be constantly
improved and to encourage cooperation among all actors and
countries in the region," she notes.

 

IOM's counter-trafficking assistance programme in Nicaragua and the
workshop are both funded by the US State Department's Bureau for
Population, Migration and Refugees (PRM.)

In May RCM member states (Belize, Canada, Costa Rica, the
Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico,
Nicaragua, Panama and the US), meeting in Honduras, drafted a
regional plan of action addressing migrants' rights, human
trafficking, irregular migration, and the right of return for
migrants wishing to return to their countries of origin.

 

The RCM, also known as the Puebla Process, was created in 1996 in
Puebla, Mexico. It is an inter-governmental regional migration
forum, in which participating countries discuss migration trends
and realities and seek common ground. 

 

For more information please contact:

Brenda de Trinidad

IOM Nicaragua

Tel: +505.278.9569

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

or

Ana Hidalgo

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