Paris – The International Organization for Migration (IOM) organized an awareness-raising event on the identification and referral of victims of trafficking on 15 March at Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport. The event brought together frontline practitioners, including border police officers, airline staff, security agents, UK and US immigration officers, and civil society organizations working at the airport.  

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the International Air Transport Association (IATA), as well as French stakeholders involved in the fight against trafficking in human beings, also actively contributed to the session, along with IOM France’s counter-trafficking team.  

“The training of frontline stakeholders, including those present in the airports, is one of the key measures featured in the upcoming second National Action Plan. Working in partnership is the only way to better identify and protect victims. We hope that today’s event will pave the way for concrete actions aiming at detecting and referring victims while they are on the move,” said Elisabeth Moiron-Braud, National Anti-trafficking Coordinator. 

Data from IOM’s Counter Trafficking Data Collaborative (CTDC), the world's first global data hub on human trafficking, show that nearly 80 per cent of human trafficking journeys cross through official border points such as land border controls or airports. About 20 per cent of the crossings happened by plane.  

At the meeting, concrete tools to enhance victim identification in an airport environment were presented, included the 2019 edition of IOM’s Counter-Trafficking Directory, a user-friendly guide containing human trafficking information and contact points for 82 countries. The directory aims to facilitate quick referral of potential cases to competent authorities.  

“In the context of globalization and growth in the air sector, it is expected that the number of victims trafficked by air may increase in the future, making the training of airport staff even more needed,” stressed Sara Abbas, IOM France Head of Office.   

The event was part of a series of counter-trafficking training activities put in place by IOM France in the framework of the DETECT and CARE + projects, allowing for more than 200 professionals to receive information and tools for better identifying and helping victims of trafficking in 2018 and the first quarter of 2019. 

Download IOM’s Counter-Trafficking Directory here:    

http://iomfrance.org/sites/default/files/Repertoire_IOM_EN_2019_WEB.pdf  

For further information, please contact IOM France, Chloe Taillard Yévenes, Tel: +33 (0)1 4044 0691, Email: ctyevenes@iom.int or Fanny Ruinart, Tel: +33 (0)1 4044 0684, Email: fruinart@iom.int