Tuesday 17 December 2002

Press Briefing Notes
Tuesday 17 December 2002
Spokesperson: Christopher Lom

1. COTE D'IVOIRE - Liberian Refugees Return Home
2. UNITED STATES - Migration for Development in Africa
3. ZAMBIA - Refugee HIV/AIDS Awareness
4. COLOMBIA - "Children of Fire"
5. ALBANIA - Counter Trafficking Information Campaign

COTE D'IVOIRE - Liberian Refugees Return Home - Yesterday IOM flew 27 Liberian refugees, including two children and two babies, home to Monrovia from the Cote D'Ivoire's strife-torn commercial capital of Abidjan.

The repatriation, requested by UNHCR, was the first organized by IOM from Abidjan since conflict erupted in the West African state in September.

The refugees traveled to Abidjan's Felix Houphouet Boigny airport by bus from the UNHCR transit center in Atoban in the hard hit Cocody district.

The operation went smoothly, although the returnees were briefly detained on arrival in Monrovia for interrogation by the Liberian authorities.

According to IOM officials in Monrovia, several of the returnees were met by family and friends at the airport. All expressed relief at leaving Cote D'Ivoire, but regret that the security situation in the country appeared to be deteriorating.

UNITED STATES - Migration for Development in Africa - IOM Deputy Director General Ndioro Ndiaye is taking part in a Washington DC conference organised by the African Union and the Foundation for Democracy in Africa.

The three-day conference, which starts today at Howard University, brings together representatives from organizations representing the African diaspora in the Western Hemisphere. Discussion will focus on current ties that bind the diaspora to Africa and will examine ways of reversing the brain drain that has seen Africa lose a third of its skilled professionals in the last two decades.

According to Mme Ndiaye: "The brain-drain is putting a huge strain on the continent. African scientists and technicians are widely involved in high profile scientific research, which could directly benefit Africa. This void has to be replaced by western technical assistance, at an estimated cost of US$4 billion per year. It is high time programmes and policies are put in place to reverse the devastating effects of the brain drain."

IOM's Migration for Development in African programme (MIDA) seeks to transfer skills and resources from the African diaspora to support development in Africa. By mid-December, MIDA has assisted 56 professionals living in Belgium to return to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi and Rwanda for periods of up to four months to share their knowledge and expertise.

So far, 251 professionals have signed up to participate in the programme. MIDA participants returning for temporary assignments receive a Euro 1,200 grant. The programme is currently funded with a Euro 1.3 million grant provided by the Government of Belgium.

The Foundation for Democracy in Africa is a Washington-based non-profit, non-partisan organization which seeks to strengthen and enhance the fundamental principles of democracy, freedom, and economic plurality in Africa.

For more information, please call Lauren Engle, IOM Washington on 00 1 202 862 18 26.

ZAMBIA - Refugee HIV/AIDS Awareness - IOM, working with the Lutheran World Federation, has launched an HIV/AIDS awareness campaign to help refugees in the Uwkimi Resettlement Camp in Eastern Zambia.

The mainly Angolan refugees, who are desperately poor, are extremely vulnerable to HIV/AIDS and the programme will target young women and children in particular to educate them in HIV/AIDS prevention. It will also provide access to social support, including reproductive health services and HIV/AIDS counselling for camp residents, including hundreds of orphans created by the pandemic.

In addition to providing life-saving information, the 12-month US$250,000 project, funded by the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA), will include a research component, training and capacity-building for local staff.

For more information please contact: Pär Liljert, IOM Lusaka Tel: +260 1 254055 pliljert@iom.int <mailto:pliljert@iom.int>

COLOMBIA - "Children of Fire" - IOM Colombia, working with the Colombian Family Welfare Institute, the District Film Library and USAID, has commissioned a group of Colombian film directors to produce a series of documentaries and short films on the effects of armed conflict, violence and displacement on Colombian child soldiers.





The programmes, part of a series called "Hijos del Fuego" (Children of Fire), will sensitise audiences the experiences of children in armed conflict, the need to
reintegrate them into society and to protect their human rights, and the need to prevent their recruitment in future.

The scheme is part of an IOM Colombia programme that supports former child soldiers. According to the Colombian authorities, some 15 to 20% of guerrilla and paramilitary groups are currently minors - about 7,000 children.

Since November 1999, IOM has helped 541 former child soldiers through seven special centres that provide education, vocational training, cultural activities and psycho-social counselling. The programme, which also runs two transit centres for initial screening, helps to ease the children's reintegration into civilian life, and, whenever possible, to reunite them with their families.

ALBANIA - Counter Trafficking Information Campaign - IOM Tirana this week launched a new national information campaign to counter human trafficking using the slogan: "You are not for sale!"

The Dutch-funded campaign will include TV and radio spots, 30,000 leaflets, 5,000 posters and a song - all alerting Albanians to the dangers of human trafficking and ways to prevent it. Ministries, donor embassies, international organisations, NGOs, teachers, students and parents will participate in the campaign, which complements IOM Tirana initiatives to build counter trafficking capacity in the Albanian police force, and to raise awareness of the problem in schools.