IOM and IADB develop educational sessions on human trafficking in Latin America and the Caribbean

A total of 41 people from a wide range of backgrounds and professions participated in two virtual sessions on the crime of human trafficking on October 29. Among them were migration officials, legal professionals, teachers and doctoral students.  The activity was part of the virtual tutored course "Migration Policy and Governance in Latin America and the Caribbean", which IOM is implementing with the Inter-American Development Bank's Migration Training Program. 

Aimed at students from all over Latin America and the Caribbean, the sessions were broadcast simultaneously in English and Spanish, with participants connected from 19 countries. The sessions were led by Agueda Marín and Rosilyne Borland, regional specialists in assistance to migrants from the IOM Regional Offices for South America and Central America, North America and the Caribbean, respectively.

Among the topics discussed were the basic concepts of the crime of human trafficking, its link to migration and the related crime of smuggling of migrants. This last topic was expanded during an independent session on November 5. 

 "Many people travel in vulnerable situations, and there is a very strong link between migration and human trafficking," explained Agueda Marín, Regional Specialist in Assistance to Migrants of the IOM Regional Office for South America. "Something very important is that 11.6 million domestic workers are international migrants, with 73% of them being women. It is a field in which we do not usually imagine that there is human trafficking, but it does exist”.

These activities are carried out in the framework of IOM’s Western Hemisphere Program, financed by the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, together with the Migration Training Program of the Inter-American Development Bank.