Nicaragua - IOM Nicaragua, in cooperation with local partners in the Caribbean coastal town of Bluefields, have unveiled a mural entitled Migration and Human Trafficking.

The unveiling of the mural, which will serve to raise awareness among local residents of the dangers of irregular migration and human trafficking, kicked off the Palo de Mayo Festival, a long-honored tradition from the early Nineteenth Century, which welcomes the start of the rainy season.

“Since October 2012, IOM has been working in Bluefields strengthening the technical capacity of local officials and non-governmental partners to provide protection and assistance to vulnerable migrants, including victims of human trafficking,” explains Carmen Paola Zepeda, IOM Chief of Mission in Nicaragua.

With funding from the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Population Refugees and Migration (PRM), IOM has assisted 53 vulnerable migrants from the Bluefields area (44 women and 9 men), who were victims of human trafficking for sexual or labour exploitation.  Some of the victims had been working on Caribbean cruise ships.

According to Nicaragua’s 2005 census, some 6 per cent of the country’s migrant population hails from the two autonomous regions on the Caribbean Coast.  Main countries of destination are Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Belize, Costa Rica, Panama and the United States. 

Many cases of human trafficking in the region involve young women who work on cruise ships, but are lured with offers of better jobs when they embark at different ports of call and are subsequently trafficked for sexual exploitation.  Trafficking for sexual exploitation and forced domestic servitude have also been reported within Nicaragua.

The same IOM programme has provided reintegration assistance, including the creation of small businesses, for victims of trafficking from Chinandega, Ocotal and Somoto - all border areas with few employment opportunities and a high incidence of migration and false recruitment of young women.

“IOM has established vital partnerships with local authorities, civil society organizations and the private sector in all of these cities and towns in order to ensure long-term reintegration for these victims.  The aim is to make sure that poverty and the lack of jobs does not result in re-trafficking,” added IOM Nicaragua counter trafficking programme manager Brenda de Trinidad.

The mural was painted by IOM beneficiaries who wanted to use this medium to tell of the suffering endured during their migration, and of their successful social and economic reintegration in their communities of origin.

For more information, please contact

Brenda De Trinidad
IOM Nicaragua
Email:  bdetrinidad@iom.int
Tel: (505) 2278 9569

Or

Miquel Manley Hammond
IOM Bluefields
Email: mhsanbola@iom.int