IOM and a local Vietnamese NGO have completed a successful 16-month
pilot project  to reach out to victims of human trafficking
and provide them with the self-help skills and psycho-social
support they need to reintegrate into mainstream society.

The pilot project, funded by the Bureau of Population, Refugees
and Migration of the US State Department and implemented by IOM and
the Centre for Studies and Applied Sciences in Gender, Family,
Women and Adolescents, reached 39 victims of trafficking through
five self-help groups facilitated by women who have been
trafficked.

The initiative represents a breakthrough in Viet Nam, where
deep-rooted stigma associated with having been trafficked can be an
obstacle to providing the psycho-social and public health support
needed to reintegrate victims of trafficking.

Project workers, who shared the findings of the pilot with
counter-trafficking partner agencies and the victims themselves at
a workshop in Hanoi last week, said that initial efforts to develop
self-help support groups and provide specialized mental health and
psycho-social support had been met with fear and suspicion.

"Most victims find trust very difficult and live in fear of
being trafficked again. They don't want to talk about their
experiences because they are frightened of being discriminated
against and they don't want to be seen to be associated with groups
of other victims," says IOM Viet Nam Chief of Mission Andy
Bruce.

But when seven former victims were successfully recruited and
empowered to act as facilitators, the project took off.

By empowering the women through group and one-to-one counselling
and training them in life skills, positive thinking, trust
building, self discipline and leadership, the project found that it
could reach out to a far wider network of victims.

With empowerment, the facilitators became increasingly
confident, open and trusting of each other and project staff. With
support from project workers, they subsequently identified 32 other
victims and, with them, set up the five self-help groups.

The Hanoi workshop testified to the success of the self-help
approach. Of the 54 participants, 26 were former victims of
trafficking who assumed ownership of the event, playing an active
role in its preparation and organization, reporting on their
achievements and identifying areas in which they still need
assistance from other organizations.

For more information, please contact:

Andy Bruce

IOM Hanoi

Tel.+84.4. 736 6258 Ext. 106

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