Some 25 Yemeni officials and representatives from non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) are meeting today and tomorrow in Sana'a with
IOM and UNICEF representatives to discuss best practices to
identify, assist and reintegrate children who have fallen prey to
trafficking networks. This will be followed by three days of
training on 28-30 April for Yemeni health professionals who are
involved in providing direct assistance to former victims of
trafficking.

IOM and UNICEF have been working with Yemeni government partners
and local and national counterparts to better manage a reception
centre for trafficked children established in Haradh district of
Hajja, near the Saudi-Yemen border crossing and to improve the
awareness and capacity of border authorities to identify and refer
victims of trafficking who need assistance.

IOM has also conducted training courses on shelter management,
including psychosocial assistance and life skills training for the
staff of the reception centre and law enforcement trainings for
some 40 border officials.

As part of the programme, an information campaign in the
communities of origin of the trafficked children was also carried
out using radio and other awareness material.

Lessons learned during this programme will form the basis of a
wider plan of action aimed at providing a comprehensive approach to
the issue of child trafficking in Yemen.

According to a recent UNICEF study, more than 150,000 people
were returned from Yemeni land borders in the first quarter of 2004
with 59.3 per cent of them children from the Haradh district of
Hajja.

For more information, please contact:

Stefano Tamagnini

IOM Sana'a

Tel +967 734 079 429

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

Redouane Saadi

IOM Geneva

Tel +41 22 717 93 61

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