Friday 27 September 2002

Press Briefing Notes
Friday 27 September 2002
Spokesperson: Niurka Piñeiro

COTE D'IVOIRE - Abidjan Transit Centre Becomes Refuge
FRANCE - IOM to Assist in the Voluntary Return of Afghans from Red Cross Centre
PERU - Counter Trafficking Information Campaign
EAST TIMOR - National Immunization Campaign
SENEGAL- Workshop on International Migration in West Africa-




COTE D'IVOIRE - Abidjan Transit Centre Becomes Refuge - An IOM transit camp normally used for processing refugees destined for resettlement in the
United States is providing refuge for 140 African foreign nationals who fled persecution following last week's failed coup attempt. As of this morning, the influx of victims of home destruction has considerably reduced, but refugees and other West African nationals are still arriving at the IOM centre as they fear for their lives.

IOM's Deux Plateaux transit camp is providing shelter to 131 Liberians, Sierra Leoneans, Togolese and Sudanese, whose houses in a shantytown near the Agban gendarmerie barracks were burnt down following the coup attempt.

Following the razing of their homes by mobs who accused them of harbouring the rebels, the families first fled to the UNHCR compound, before being referred on to the IOM camp. In the panic, some families were separated.

According to IOM Cote D'Ivoire acting Chief of Mission, David Coomber, the arrivals came as a shock, but the facility was relatively well prepared. "The camp is designed to house 200 people," he says. UN agencies subsequently stepped in with additional food aid and the NGO Caritas provided a doctor.

IOM, United Nations agencies and other humanitarian agencies are meeting on a daily basis to follow up the situation and to organize new facilities in case of a sudden increase in the number of foreign nationals fleeing destruction of other shantytowns in the capital or fleeing battles in other parts of the country.

The Deux Plateaux transit camp was set up by IOM in June 2001 when the US Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) stopped conducting resettlement interviews in Cote D'Ivoire's refugee camps. Since then 4,901 refugees have passed through the facility en route to the US.

FRANCE - IOM to Assist in the Voluntary Return of Afghans from Red Cross Centre - IOM is to assist in the voluntary return and reintegration of Afghans currently living in the Sangatte Red Cross Centre, which is a few miles from the entrance to the Channel Tunnel, in Northern France.

The French authorities announced yesterday that the centre would close to new entrants on 15 November and the camp will close by April 2003.

Afghans who decide to go home voluntarily will be given 2,000 Euros, plus 500 Euros for each child, to help them reintegrate in their homeland. Half of the reintegration grant will be paid upon departure, the remainder upon arrival in Kabul.

In the coming days, everyone at the centre will be fingerprinted, registered and interviewed by the Red Cross and by the UNHCR, who will decide who is a genuine asylum seeker. UNHCR will also carry out an information campaign in the Centre and provide counselling to camp residents.

The Sangatte Red Cross Centre currently shelters some 2,000 people. It was set up in 1999 by the French Government to provide short-term humanitarian assistance to irregular migrants.

PERU - Counter Trafficking Information Campaign -The IOM information campaign to counter irregular migration and trafficking currently underway in Peru and Ecuador is today receiving the vital support of over 30 Peruvian NGOs.

For the first time, more than 30 NGOs active in 14 provinces working on counter trafficking, rape and other sexual violence, and domestic violence issues are gathering to discuss ways of combating the trafficking of Peruvian women.

More than 70 delegates will issue a statement warning all Peruvians of the risks of trafficking and prostitution and reminding all men women and children that forced prostitution constitutes a violation of a person's most basic human rights.

Although there are no official figures as to the number of Peruvian women being trafficked and later forced into prostitution, the majority of women leaving the country are duped with bogus job offers or promises of marriage. Once in the destination country, they are forced into prostitution.

The main destination countries for Peruvian women victims of trafficking, or working in the sex industry of their accord, are Italy Spain, and Japan.

Manfred Ritter, in charge of the IOM information campaign, says, "It's normal for every human being to want a better life. But potential migrants need to think whether they are willing to pay for this better life with their dignity, their freedom and sometimes their lives. This is what our campaign aims to tell the public. We want people to know the risks before they take such an important decision."

As part of IOM's information, TV and radio spots, giant billboards, posters on buses and other public transport, leaflets, and a short story book are being used to inform potential migrants of the risks involved in irregular migration.

Today's meeting is being organized by the local NGO, Movimiento El Pozo. It is being held at the Maria Angola Hotel in Lima.

EAST TIMOR - National Immunization Campaign - IOM will mobilize its fleet of trucks and buses throughout East Timor tomorrow to support the government's first National Immunization Day.

The trucks will move people and health promotion materials to immunization points set up by the Health Ministry, UN agencies and NGOs in towns and villages throughout the country.

The two-stage campaign is part of a polio eradication effort and targets 130,000 children. A second immunization day is scheduled for 26 October.

Since October 1999, IOM's office in East Timor has helped some 175,000 East Timorese refugees to return home. Other IOM East Timor programmes have included the demobilization and reintegration of the East Timor's Falintil guerrilla army, and a wide range of community development and population stabilization projects.

SENEGAL - Workshop on International Migration in West Africa- IOM is organizing with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) a five-day workshop in Dakar to discuss international migration in West Africa.

The workshop, which will start on Monday will be attended by 50 migration experts from the 15 member States of ECOWAS -Benin, Burkina Faso, Cap Verde, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo- and by the Government of Mauritania.

During that meeting, IOM and ECOWAS will establish a West African Migration Statistics Unit to help collect data to better understand and address migration issues and help set up effective migration programmes and policies. Regional dialogue and cooperation on migration will also be discussed.

IOM and ECOWAS signed on 31 July 2002 an agreement to encourage a regular exchange of information and to promote technical cooperation in the field of migration.

Next week's workshop builds on the Dakar Declaration adopted by governments on 13 October 2000 at the West African Regional Ministerial Conference and on the December seminar on setting up mechanisms to manage migration and to set up migration policies.

A press conference is scheduled to take place on Friday 4 October at 14h30 at the Novotel in Dakar.
For more information, contact Jean Louis Domergue, IOM Dakar 221 865 19 01 mrfdajkar@iom.int