Friday 17 October 2003

Press Briefing Notes
Friday 17 October 2003
Spokesperson: Jean Philippe Chauzy

1. MALAYSIA - Director General Attends OIC Summit
2. BELARUS - Counter Trafficking Campaign Gathers Momentum
3. UGANDA - IOM Supports Disaster Management Initiative
4. JORDAN - IOM Cairo Trains Jordanian Migration Officials

MALAYSIA - Director General Attends OIC Summit - IOM Director General Brunson McKinley this week attended the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Summit in Putrajaya, Malaysia at the invitation of Malaysian government and the OIC Secretary General.

Of the 57 OIC member states, 27 are also members of IOM. IOM signed a Cooperation Agreement with the OIC in Saudi Arabia in January.

At the Summit, McKinley met with delegations of OIC Member States and the Secretary Generals of OIC and the League of Arab States (LAS) for talks on bilateral and regional issues, including Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, terrorism and globalization.

BELARUS - Counter Trafficking Campaign Gathers Momentum- IOM's Counter Trafficking campaign launched in February to warn potential victims of the dangers posed by irregular migration and human traffickers has so far successfully disseminated 5,000 posters, 100,000 "basic facts" leaflets and 3,000 brochures in high visibility locations throughout the country.

IOM's counter trafficking message "Behind False Promises - Real Pain" is also regularly featured in advertisements published in national and local newspapers. Public Service Announcements are also broadcast daily on national and commercial radio and TV stations.


In the city of Brest on the Polish border, a telephone hotline has been set up to provide information and advice on job opportunities abroad, and to check the veracity of job offers to would-be migrants. The hotline number (8-0162-262-362) has been widely advertised and the hotline is open every day from 11.00 to 20.00. All calls are confidential and free of charge. So far this hotline has provided advice to more than 800 callers.

A dedicated website (www.stoptrafficking.by) has also been set up to provide updated information on ongoing counter-trafficking efforts.

IOM Minsk has also organised awareness raising seminars for journalists, NGOs and government representatives. More than 400 lectures on the pitfalls of irregular migration and the dangers of trafficking have also been carried organised for audiences totalling more than 13,000.

This programme, implemented in cooperation with the Belarus authorities, local NGOs and UNDP also helps return and reintegrate victims of trafficking. Over the past 12 months, the IOM office in Minsk has helped 32 women who had been trafficked to Cyprus, Poland, Russia, Germany, Lithuania, Great Britain, the FYR of Macedonia and Syria.

IOM is also working with the Belarussian authorities to develop legislation, which will further criminalise human trafficking, especially in the case of women for the sex industry.

Evidence suggests that Belarus is one of the main countries of origin in Europe for the trafficking of women and children for forced prostitution and sexual exploitation.

Economic hardship and widespread unemployment have caused growing numbers of Belarussian women to look for unskilled jobs abroad such as waitressing or domestic work. Unscrupulous agents prey on these women, offering bogus foreign contracts, and many end up as the victims of human traffickers in forced prostitution or bonded labour.

According to the Ministry of the Interior, 40 cases related to trafficking in women were recorded in 1999; 187 in 2000; 191 in 2001 and 120 in 2002. Some 215 victims were involved. In 2002, 44 individuals were sentenced for human trafficking offences.

IOM's "Combating Trafficking in Women in the Republic of Belarus" project was started in October 2002 with the financial support of the US State Department and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency.

UGANDA - IOM Supports Disaster Management Initiative - IOM is to help the government of Uganda to improve its capacity to in the areas of general disaster preparedness and management, as well as coordination of assistance to internally displaced people.

The pilot Information, Collection, Analysis and Dissemination System (ICADS) project, funded by the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA), will initially focus on the three districts of Gulu, Katakwi and Kapchorwa.

The project has also provided IT and office equipment for a new resource dedicated to disaster management and preparedness within the Office of the Prime Minister.

The project is designed to help Uganda's Department for Disaster Management and Preparedness (DDMP) to play a leading role in disaster management and policy planning, as well as improving coordination between government departments and the humanitarian community.

For further information, please contact Ottmar Figueroa, Email: ofigueroa@iom.int, Tel: +256 41 236 622 or Damien Thuriaux, Email: dthuriaux@iom.int

JORDAN - IOM Cairo Trains Jordanian Migration Officials - Three Jordanian officials from the Ministries of Planning, Labour and the Interior have arrived in Cairo to participate in a four-month IOM training programme.


The officials, two of whom are senior and one of whom is mid-level, will receive training in migration, language, IT, and project development.

The initiative is designed to strengthen the capacity of the Jordanian government to formulate and implement migration policies and programmes according to a national strategic work plan.

IOM Cairo last year successfully ran a similar project for Immigrant Affairs officials from the Republic of Yemen.