IOM has escorted a group of eight Haitian child victims of
trafficking returning home from the Dominican Republic in
coordination with Dominican and Haitian child protection
authorities.

The return is the second in a series of family reunifications
carried out to assist a group of 44 child victims of trafficking
discovered in a raid by Dominican authorities last February.

The children were transferred from a shelter managed by the
Dominican child protection authority (CONANI) and assisted by IOM
staff to the border at Jimaní/Malpasse. There, IOM staff in
Haiti and security personnel joined the convoy to ensure their
transfer to a shelter near the capital, Port-au-Prince, where they
are receiving psycho-social assistance and medical check-ups.

The children will be reunited with their families in the coming
days. Family tracing was carried out by IOM in cooperation with the
Haitian child protection authorities based on essential information
given to IOM staff through individual interviews with the
children.

Once the parents/caretakers of the children are identified, they
are visited by IOM to assess the family situation and the
conditions for a possible return.  Return arrangements are
made only in cases where return conditions were deemed suitable by
IOM and the Haitian authorities.

The families identified so far have received sensitization
training on the risks and consequences of human trafficking and
will receive business training and reintegration grants to start
small businesses, or expand existing ones.  This is aimed at
minimizing the economic push factors driving child trafficking and
re-trafficking in Haiti.

Support will also be provided for the children's school fees and
materials in order to ensure their educational integration.

The children had been trafficked to the Dominican Republic prior
to the earthquake in January 2010 to beg on the streets of Santo
Domingo or to carry out menial tasks. All money earned was taken by
their traffickers. Many children facing similar conditions of
exploitation remain on the streets of Santo Domingo and other
localities in the Dominican Republic.

A first group of six boys returned home in mid-April.  The
rest of the children remaining in CONANI shelters will be reunited
with their families when conditions are suitable.

IOM has been supporting CONANI to provide direct assistance,
including food, clothing, medical and psycho-social care,
recreational activities and transportation, to all the children
rescued in the February raid.

The Organization is also providing technical and operational
assistance to the Dominican authorities to strengthen their
counter-trafficking response and management of child victims of
trafficking.

"IOM will continue to assist in the reunification of as many
child victims of trafficking as possible, wherever the conditions
allow," explains Cy Winter, Chief of Mission for IOM Santo
Domingo.

IOM assistance to these child victims of trafficking has been
made possible by support from the US Department of State, Bureau of
Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM) and the Office to Monitor
and Combat Trafficking in Persons (G/TIP).

For more information, please contact:

Zoë Stopak-Behr

IOM Santo Domingo

Tel: + 809 688 8174

E-mail: "mailto:zstopak-behr@iom.int">zstopak-behr@iom.int

or

Tobias Metzner

IOM Haiti

Tel: + 509 37011-94

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