Finnish asylum reception centre staff in Helsinki are being
provided with two days of training on how to identify, care for and
reintegrate victims of human trafficking.

The Scandinavian country is considered to be a transit and
destination country for human trafficking with most of the cases
involving the labour exploitation of Asian men in the restaurant
and construction industries.

Finland's role as a transit country for human trafficking
presents difficulties in the provision of assistance, as in many
cases migrants are unaware that they may be exploited when they
reach their destination in other countries in Europe.

The training, organised by IOM and the Finnish Ministry of
Labour, will also use the expertise of a Ukrainian non-governmental
organization (NGO), Revival of the Nation in addition to IOM staff
to optimize the assistance already being provided to trafficking
victims in Finland.

Since 2000, IOM and its network of over 90 NGO partners in
Ukraine, where human trafficking is a serious concern, have
provided assistance to thousands of trafficking victims and are
well placed to transfer their expertise to Finland.

Such assistance in the Scandinavian country is coordinated by
the asylum reception system, a result of a recently developed
governmental assistance structure. Support includes the reception
of victims and emergency help, housing, social and health care
services, advisory and legal services, as well as supporting the
integration or safe return of victims.

Since the majority of employees of asylum reception centres
including social workers, nurses, refugee advisors and directors of
reception centres have not dealt with trafficking victims before,
the training is both timely and necessary.  

For further information, please contact:

Dr. Thomas Lothar Weiss

IOM Helsinki

Tel: +358-9684-1150

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