Seven Dominican women victims of trafficking who were stranded in
Turkey, returned home this week.

IOM and its partners, the State Secretariat of Foreign Affairs,
the National Agency for Migration and the Attorney General's Office
provided assistance to the women who confirmed that they were on
their way to Spain when they were left to fend for themselves in
Turkey.

The women also told IOM they had paid some US$8,700 to travel to
Europe where they were hoping to find jobs to help their families
back home.  Upon arrival in Turkey, they were told they had to
pay an additional 5,000 Euros.  This is when their travel
documents were confiscated and they were forced into prostitution
by the traffickers.

Nallibe Sapeg, Director of the Department for the Protection of
Dominicans Abroad, explained, “We became involved in this
case when the mother of one of the women came to our offices. 
We immediately contacted the Dominican Consul in Istanbul and
IOM.  Five of the women managed to pay their return tickets
through their own financial means and two of them received support
from IOM.”

The support provided by IOM is complementing new migration
policies adopted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  The aim
of the policies is to strengthen the ability of Dominican Consuls
to provide support and assistance to Dominican nationals who find
themselves abroad and in vulnerable conditions.

One of the returnees said, "We were promised a safe and direct
flight and good jobs.  We were supposed to travel through
Turkey and the next day we were to fly to Spain.  But our
passports were confiscated in Turkey and we were left on the
streets, sleeping in parks.  We had no money to eat. 
Being home today seems like a miracle.”

Anita Sifres, Deputy of the National Migration Agency added,
“Since January, we have had 280 similar cases of Dominicans
who have been swindled and deceived by the trafficking networks who
operate in Europe, South America and the Caribbean.  Many of
these people were left stranded and abandoned before the trip or in
the country of transit."

Court proceedings against six presumed traffickers (2 women and
4 men) got underway this week in the southern Dominican city of
Azua.

According to Frank Soto, Deputy Attorney General: “Many of
the abandoned migrants, men and women, are afraid of testifying
against the traffickers.  But we managed to obtain the
collaboration of some victims in order to start our investigations
in The Bahamas, Mexico, Turkey and Spain.”

Return assistance was provided by the IOM Stranded Migrant
Fund.

For more information contact:

Fanny Polanía

IOM Santo Domingo

Tel: 1.809. 732.7121 or 809.566.0430

Email: "mailto:fpolania@iom.int">fpolania@iom.int