IOM, the Inter American Development Bank
and the offices of the First Ladies of Bolivia, Colombia, El
Salvador and Paraguay, are launching a regional project on 1st
March to combat child trafficking in those countries.

The project will not only help combat child
trafficking but will also raise awareness on sexual and
reproductive health issues and related subjects such as domestic
violence.

The 15-month pilot project will make use of
best practices of previous counter trafficking experiences in Peru.
More than 100 teachers from 10 schools from each participating
country will be trained on the subject of human trafficking. The
training is expected to have a multiplying effect, as this
information will trickle down to more than 4,000 primary and
secondary school students initially.

"IOM and its partners hope this chain of
knowledge will continue to reach parents, neighbours, local
authorities and the public at large," said IOM's Counter
Trafficking Focal Point in Lima, Dolores Cortés.

One school from each of the participating
countries will become the national representative in charge of
transferring the acquired knowledge. The project also aims to place
the subject of human trafficking in school programmes and on public
agendas.

According to the US State Departments 2005
Trafficking in Person Report (TIP), Bolivia is a source and transit
country for the trafficking of men, women and children trafficked
for forced labour and sexual exploitation to neighbouring South
American countries, Spain, Japan and the USA. Children are also
trafficked internally for sexual exploitation and for forced labour
in the mining and agricultural industries, with poverty also
forcing thousands of children travelling from rural to urban areas
who then fall prey to traffickers for use in the sex trade.

Internal trafficking of children for sexual
exploitation in Colombia is also a serious problem, according to
the report, with Colombia also being a source and transit country
for women and girls trafficked abroad for sexual exploitation. The
situation is similar in El Salvador with the exception that the
country is also a final destination point for children and women
trafficked from Nicaragua and Honduras.

In Paraguay, children are trafficked to
Argentina, Spain and Brazil for sexual exploitation and forced
labour. As in the other countries mentioned above, the 2005 TIP
report claims Paraguayan children are also trafficked internally
from poor rural areas to towns and cities for sexual exploitation
and domestic servitude while the trafficking of children on the
Brazil, Paraguay-Argentina border remains an on-going problem.

For more information contact:

Dolores Cortes

IOM Lima

Tel: +511 2217209

Email: "mailto:dcortes@iom.int" target="_blank" title=
"">dcortes@iom.int