IOM Colombia and the UN’s Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
this week signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to design and
implement new strategies to strengthen the fight against
trafficking in persons in the country.

The new agreement paves the way for IOM and UNODC to develop new
projects that provide technical assistance to the Colombian
Government to increase its capacity to identify and assist victims
of human trafficking, and for prevention of the crime and the
effective prosecution of traffickers.

Since 2009, IOM and UNODC have been jointly providing support to
the Colombia Government in the design and implementation of public
policies to combat trafficking in persons.  One of these joint
initiatives was the work carried out with the Department of the
Interior to implement a virtual training course for public
officials to learn general concepts and methods used for the
identification, investigation and prosecution of cases of
trafficking in persons, mainly for sexual exploitation, begging and
forced labour.

In 2012, IOM and UNODC trained 66 officials from the judicial
police, prosecutors and members of the departmental committees
working on anti-trafficking issues.  The courses focused on
the concept of trafficking in persons and its evolution,
Colombia’s anti-trafficking legislation, its methodology for
judicial investigations, assistance to victims and linking
trafficking in persons to other related crimes.

Most Colombian victims of trafficking come from the departments
of Valle del Cauca, Antioquia and Risaralda.  They are mostly
females aged between 18 and 25, with low education levels, from
dysfunctional families and heads of household.

 

So far this year, IOM Colombia has assisted 23 Colombian victims
trafficked to Indonesia, Bolivia, Guatemala and China for sexual
exploitation.

According to statistics compiled by IOM and the Colombian Family
Welfare Institute (ICBF), between 2010 and 2011, 175 cases of
victims of trafficking were reported in Colombia. Of these, 97
cases involved minors and 78 adults.   In addition, UNODC
reported that between 2003 and 2007, a total of 543 cases –
approximately 100 cases per year – were investigated
involving victims of all ages.

 

“Together with the Colombian Government, both organizations
are leading the fight against trafficking in persons in this
country.  IOM and UNODC are very concerned about the
dimensions of human trafficking, given that we believe that only
one in every twenty cases is being reported to the
authorities,” explains Marcelo Pisani, IOM Chief of Mission
in Colombia.

For more information, please contact

 

Jorge Gallo

IOM Colombia

Tel: 57 1 6397777 Ext. 1219

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