Tuesday 12 August 2003

Press Briefing Notes
Tuesday 12 August 2003
Spokesperson: Jean Philippe Chauzy

AFGHANISTAN - IOM Increases Activities in South-eastern Afghanistan
UKRAINE - Combating Trafficking in Women
SWITZERLAND - Informed Migration Guide





AFGHANISTAN - IOM Increases Activities in south-eastern Afghanistan - Last week IOM assisted Internally Displaced Afghans to return home from
Khost province in south-eastern Afghanistan. The returns, the first from the south-eastern region, were carried out in close cooperation with UNHCR.

Fifty-three families from Khost city and 5 families from Gardez city were returned to their homes in Kabul, Logar, Paktia, Baghlan, Takhar and Laghman provinces. Most of the IDPs were Tajiks who had been displaced under the Taleban regime.

After a joint IOM/UNHCR registration, IOM medical screening and UNHCR vaccination and mine awareness course, the families received a standard family return package including UNHCR household items and wheat from WFP.

The returnees were also allowed to take with them more household luggage than usual, such as construction material, to make sure their returns are sustainable.

IOM, UNHCR operations and security staff escorted the convoy, consisting of 8 trucks and 13 minibuses. Both the coalition and local militias provided security in Khost. During the journey to the more distant provinces in northern and eastern Afghanistan, the returnees stayed overnight in IOM and UNHCR transit centres along the route. This year alone, IOM has helped some 12,000 displaced families (56,000 IDPs) to return home.

Also in Khost and neighbouring Paktika province, IOM's USAID-funded Afghanistan Transition Initiative (ATI) Programme is assisting the population in the border districts Tani, Jaji Maidan, Tere Zayi, Wor Mamai, Gomal and Barmal.

This programme is designed to assist the large community living near the Pakistani border, which is geographically isolated. Two Jirgas or assemblies were held with tribal leaders in consultation with local authorities, "shuras" and elders, to discuss the needs of the affected population. These meetings and subsequent site visits have resulted in US$1.5 million being programmed for shelter and infrastructure in the two provinces.

For further information, contact IOM Kabul, Julia Hartlieb, +93 70 278 817, jhartlieb@iomkabul.net

UKRAINE - Combating Trafficking in Women - The third of five training seminars on the use of mutual legal assistance and extradition treaties is bringing together prosecutors and representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Security Services of Ukraine, judges from the Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kirovograd, and Luhansk areas, as well as officials from Kiev.

The two-day seminar that began yesterday is being held by IOM, the General Prosecutor Office of Ukraine (GPO), the American Bar Association, Central European and Eurasian Law Initiative (ABA/CEELI), the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and Winrock International, a non-profit organisation.

The seminars are aimed at instructing prosecutors and investigators from the General Prosecutors Office and other Ukrainian law enforcement bodies on the use of mutual legal assistance and extradition treaties.

In addition, speakers from Switzerland and the Czech Republic will discuss the practical aspects of the mutual legal assistance and extradition procedures that exist between their respective countries and Ukraine. Sessions on investigative techniques used in combating money laundering, a criminal activity often inextricably intertwined with human trafficking offenses, are also being held.

The average trafficked woman from Ukraine is under 25 years of age. Facing difficult socio-economic conditions and massive unemployment, Ukrainian women seek unskilled, low wage employment abroad. Many of them are unaware of the conditions that await them. Traffickers deceive the women with false promises of help and services. Once firmly trapped within an irregular migration environment, they become vulnerable to abuse, including bonded labour and forced prostitution, threats against their families, and confiscation of their earnings.

In Ukraine, traffickers often use the cover of an employment recruiter to arrange documents and travel across one or more international borders. From the initial recruitment to arrival in the country of destination, traffickers may sell the women a number of times.

Trafficking networks are able to operate with relative impunity for a number of reasons: fear on the part of victims to speak out, inadequate legislation including absence of provisions to prosecute the traffickers, lack of appropriate mechanisms to enforce existing laws, as well as statutes that criminalize prostitution which may make the victim vulnerable to prosecution.

IOM is working with national NGOs to provide protection and reintegration assistance to victims of trafficking returning to Ukraine. So far, IOM Kiev has organized the return and reintegration of over 800 victims of trafficking, mostly from Turkey, the FYR of Macedonia, Russia, Italy, Kosovo, Bosnia Herzegovina and Poland. IOM and its partners maintain regular contact with the victims in order to monitor their reintegration process and to determine whether they or their families have been threatened.

An IOM Rehabilitation Centre was opened in Kiev on 8 February 2002 in cooperation with the ICG, and Ukrainian health authorities. The staff includes a general practitioner, a gynaecologist and a psychologist, plus support staff including nurses and cooks. If necessary, patients also receive specialized treatment, including psychiatric care and dental services. The Centre also includes a cafeteria and a small classroom, where the staff conducts group therapy sessions, gives lessons on reproductive health, and counsels victims to identify realistic employment goals and the vocational training necessary.

IOM's NGO network consists of 17 partners that cover most of the territory of Ukraine. The majority of NGOs in this network have been active in combating trafficking in Ukraine for several years. The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency finances the IOM contribution to the counter-trafficking seminars.

For more information, contact Fred Larsson, IOM Kiev iomkiev@iom.int Tel: 380.44.568.5015.

SWITZERLAND - Informed Migration Guide - This latest IOM publication is a user-friendly guide on rules and practices of immigration and migrants' integration in five European countries. Informed Migration provides useful information on admission, residence, integration, citizenship acquisition, exit and asylum in Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal and Spain.

It is a practical tool for persons confronted on a daily basis with all aspects of international migration, particularly for Embassy and Consular staff. This guide is the final output of the project "Training Modules for Embassy Staff and other Key Migration Management Personnel", supported by the EC Odysseus programme. This initiative is meant to contribute to a regular exchange of updated information on migration management and migrants' integration.

IOM has conceived and carried out this project to facilitate access to information for all those who are part of the migration management process. IOM called for the participation of qualified officials and representatives from various public administrations of host countries. At the same time, IOM sought out the cooperation of countries of origin, identifying their information needs and their expectations and perspectives.

This initiative also allowed IOM to identify commonalties and discrepancies in the application and conception of migration related policies and practices in the five countries concerned. While an increased convergence can be noted, a complete harmonization is yet to be achieved.