IOM and the Ministry of Social Development of the Province of
Buenos Aires will draft a joint work plan to fight human
trafficking after signing a cooperation agreement.

The Ministry has agreed to actively promote the IOM counter
trafficking information campaign "No to Human Trafficking, No to
Modern Slavery" (No a la trata de personas, no a la esclavitud
moderna).

The agreement includes support for the implementation of IOM's
Counter Trafficking Programme from a gender perspective; capacity
building and training for municipal and provincial staff involved
in fighting human trafficking and concrete action to raise
awareness and provide more information to the most vulnerable areas
in the province of Buenos Aires. 

The 2001 Census reported the population of the province at 13.98
million, which accounts for more than one third of the country's
total population of 36.2 million.  More than 50 per cent of
those in the province of Buenos Aires live in the Greater Buenos
Aires Metropolitan area. 

According to an IOM exploratory study carried out in 2006,
Buenos Aires is a major destination point for international victims
of trafficking as well as for those trafficked inside the
country.  The study also revealed that some Argentinean
victims are trafficked to Spain. 

Through analysis of cases in the province of Buenos Aires, the
research team found that brothel and nightclub owners do some of
their recruitment at a very personal level through their employees,
including women who are providing sexual services to the
clients.  Other victims are falsely recruited by professionals
who prey on women in rural areas.  The IOM study also found
that people were being trafficked for labour exploitation in
addition to sexual exploitation.

For more information, please contact:

Elena Solari

IOM Buenos Aires

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

or

Sabrina Roth

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