A new shelter that will provide assistance to female victims of
trafficking in Syria will open in Aleppo, Syria, on 7 January.

The shelter, part of a wider Euros 1.5 million European Union
(EU) funded IOM programme and opened in cooperation with the Syrian
Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour and the Juvenile Welfare
Association for Girls, will provide direct assistance to trafficked
women through medical and psycho-social care, post-rescue
rehabilitation including vocational training and awareness raising
on human trafficking to potential victims of trafficking.

The shelter at Aleppo is the second of its kind in the
country.

The Syrian government and IOM began their efforts to address
human trafficking in the country in 2005 following the arrival of
large numbers of refugees from Iraq. Women headed refugee families
in particular were vulnerable to human trafficking without means to
find employment to take care of their children.

The IOM EU-funded programme, which began in 2008, has been
working to prevent the crime among Iraqi women refugees by
providing humanitarian assistance. It’s part of a larger
commitment by the EU to help Syria cope with the influx of Iraqi
refugees through the provision of Euros 100 million to support the
Syrian education, health and other sectors in areas with large
numbers of refugees.

IOM has also supported the government in raising awareness on
human trafficking among officials. On 24th December 2009, the
Syrian Cabinet endorsed the  counter  trafficking 
legislation  which is now awaiting ratification by the
Parliament.

In parallel, IOM has been working with partners to provide
direct assistance to victims. A first shelter for victims was
opened in Damascus in December 2008, and has hosted 30 non-Syrian
suspected victims of trafficking so far. They have been given
medical, psychosocial, food and non-food assistance, as well as
vocational training.

For more information please contact for IOM:

Faten Andrews

Tel: +963-11-6121370 ext. 510

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

For the European Union:

Kinda Katranji

Tel: +963-11-332 7640, ext. 149

E-mail: "mailto:Kinda.Katranji@ec.europa.eu">Kinda.Katranji@ec.europa.eu