When People Cross Borders
October 2003
Banner photo: ©SEKAI BUNKA PHOTO
Trafficking on the Rise
Intake interview of a Cambodian child who had been trafficked to Thailand and has been returned
[©Sari Nissy 1999]
It is estimated that yearly some 700,000 women and children worldwide are caught up in trafficking networks from which there is little or no escape. Trafficking is growing in scale and complexity. Victims are most frequently trafficked for sexual and/or labor exploitation, and others fall prey to false marriages and adoptions or even the trade in human organs. This new slave trade has become a global business, generating billions of dollars for organized criminal networks. In too many parts of the world, traffickers profit from lax sanctions, insufficient countermeasures, and a lack of awareness on the part of potential migrants.
Many victims of trafficking are misled about what awaits them. Even those women who know what they are getting into may take the risk because their living conditions and prospects of legal migration are so poor, they believe they have nothing to lose.
To address this issue, the International Organization for Migration will continue its efforts to inform potential victims and to protect and assist those who have fallen prey to traffickers. But much more needs to be done to assist the ever-increasing numbers of trafficked women who are not always treated as victims and often face deportation.
Counter-trafficking
IOM has some 60 counter-trafficking programs globally. These projects include information campaigns, direct protection and assistance to the victims, research, and technical cooperation to help governments deal with the problem. Through its return and reintegration programs, IOM helps the victims return home and, in many cases, start new lives.
With funding from governments, IOM has established a worldwide fund that provides assistance to the victims of trafficking. This fund provides immediate assistance to trafficked women and children stranded outside their countries and in need of urgent protection and support, to enable them to return. Working with NGOs and other partners, IOM provides safe shelter, counseling, medical assistance, transportation and reintegration assistance.
Women now make up almost 50 percent of the estimated 175 million international migrants worldwide. With more and more migrant women traveling independently or preceding their families in the migration process, the risk of falling prey to traffickers can only increase.
Jean-Philippe Chauzy is a spokesperson for the International Organization for Migration. Established in 1951 as an inter-governmental organization to resettle European displaced persons, refugees and migrants, IOM has become the leading international organization working with migrants and governments to provide humane responses to migration challenges. These include: rapid humanitarian responses to sudden migration flows, facilitation of labor migration, aid to migrants in distress and measures to counter trafficking.
