A new IOM video is available to broadcasters today highlighting the
challenges of combating human trafficking in Nicaragua and in
helping victims to recover and reintegrate post-rescue.

The Central American country is mainly a country of origin for
women and children trafficked for sexual exploitation and forced
labour, both within the country and across borders. Women and young
girls are trafficked for sexual exploitation primarily to El
Salvador with smaller numbers trafficked to Costa Rica, Guatemala,
Mexico, Honduras, Venezuela, Spain and the United States.

Internal trafficking comprises mainly of children trafficked for
forced labour in construction, agriculture, fishing, and domestic
servitude. 

However, images of a police raid on an illegal massage parlour
in the capital, Managua, and available in the IOM video, reveal
that women and minors are also victims of internal trafficking for
sexual exploitation. Nevertheless, Nicaraguan special crimes police
say they have little idea of the true scale of this problem.

"The moment we close one of those illegal massage houses,
another one pops up somewhere in the city," states Deputy
Commissioner Felipe Ruiz Mercado, of Nicaragua's National Police
Special Crimes Unit.

Police also explain that it is difficult to bring traffickers to
justice as victims are often very young and too afraid to testify
against their captors.

"The traffickers are usually very powerful and rich," says
Monica Moreno Sequeira, Special Investigator of the National
Police.

 

Between January and November 2007, Nicaragua's National Police
apprehended 43 suspected traffickers and achieved convictions in
only two cases.  One woman, convicted of trafficking women to
Spain, is serving a nine-year sentence. 

IOM, which provides vital assistance to many Nicaraguan victims
of trafficking from Chinandega, a poor agricultural area northwest
of the capital, Managua, has compiled some shocking facts based on
the experiences of those the Organization is helping.

• 70 per cent of victims are between 13 and 19 years of age
• 86 per cent were trafficked for sexual exploitation
• 50 per cent of victims live in female headed households
• 100 per cent of the victims reported experiencing family
  violence
• 90 per cent had endured rape or other abuse prior to becoming a
  victim
• 70 per cent were trafficked to El Salvador, 15 per cent to
  Costa Rica, 10 per cent to Guatemala and 5 per cent to
  Honduras.
• 80 per cent of the victims were treated for  Sexually
  Transmitted Diseases
• 90 per cent reported using drugs and/or alcohol while in
  captivity
• 80 per cent were recruited by friends or acquaintances; 10 per
  cent by family members

The IOM project, the only one in Central America and which
focuses on the reintegration of victims of trafficking, is working
with local authorities and civil society in Chinandega to
strengthen the local support network so that victims returning home
can receive the medical and psychosocial assistance needed.

Brenda de Trinidad, IOM Counter Trafficking Focal Point in
Nicaragua, says many of the young women return home in a very
fragile psychological state.

"In spite of their being in the mud, fallen, isolated,
humiliated and almost dead, we need to help them stand up, make the
right decisions, help their children and find ways to prevent this
from happening again," she says.

A 16-year-old girl who had been trafficked for sexual
exploitation told IOM: "I had to stay there, take drugs, be with
men. I felt so bad, so bad in my heart. A girl who was there, I
think she had been there so long, she was haunted and had lost her
will to live."

De Trinidad says one of the things that hurt victims most is
feeling that they have nothing, including a job.

Funded by the US Department of State Bureau of Population,
Refugees and Migration (PRM), a key component of the IOM project is
to provide victims with vocational training to help them get jobs
and start new lives. 

For more information please contact:

Niurka Pineiro

Tel: + 1 202 255 88666

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

or

Berta Fernandez

IOM Nicaragua

Tel: + 505 278 95 69

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

The script and video which is available in natural sound with
soundbites in Spanish, can be downloaded from the IOM website
class="paragraph-link-no-underline" href=
"http://www.quicklink.tv/IOM/download.asp?Clip_ID=1233" target=
"_blank" title=
"">http://www.quicklink.tv/IOM/download.asp?Clip_ID=1233