AFGHANISTAN - New Lifeline for Victims of Trafficking and Irregular Migrants - Five million dollars of new funding from the Japanese government supporting IOM's work to address some of the growing consequences of poverty and insecurity on migration in Afghanistan will provide a critical lifeline to many victims of trafficking and vulnerable migrants.
Increasing poverty through drought, higher food prices and general insecurity in a country where 85% of the average household income is spent on food and where 14 million people are at risk of nutrition-related health problems, is forcing growing numbers of Afghans into taking desperate measures to survive.
An IOM staff assessment at Torkham, on the border with Pakistan, recently found the majority of the children crossing the border to smuggle food and other goods to be victims of trafficking. Aged between 10 and 16 years of age, the children had been placed into bonded labour to pay family debts that had arisen from crop failures brought on by drought.
Informants in the area claim child trafficking is increasing this year because boys in particular are considered ideal smugglers of food and illicit goods as they are more likely to be released when captured.
Women and young girls, particularly widows, are also reportedly being forced into prostitution or baby selling so as to buy food for the family. These women, many of whom should be legally considered trafficked, often face prison or the death sentence under Afghan law for having 'unlawful sex'.
Afghanistan's Ministry of Women's Affairs (MOWA) and the Ministry of Interior's Criminal Investigation Department (CID) both found a dramatic increase in the numbers of trafficking, kidnapping, prostitution and smuggling cases in 2008 with MOWA attributing growing poverty and the deteriorating security as the main causes.
The reasons are the same for the many Afghans migrating irregularly to neighbouring countries. Iran is estimated to be hosting about one million Afghans at any one time in addition to roughly 900,000 registered Afghans. Numbers of Afghans being returned from Iran increased in 2008 with virtually all of them single males largely supporting families back home.
Left at the Islam Qala and Zaranj borders with Iran with nothing, no hope for the future, and receiving humanitarian assistance largely reserved for the sick, elderly, women and children, the men usually end up in a continual cycle of irregular migration that increases their risk to exploitation, abuse and human trafficking.
In a bid to enable the most vulnerable returnees to survive continuing hardship, the Japanese funding will partly be used to provide them with non-food assistance to complement the work of the World Food Programme (WFP). IOM will also assist with transportation from border areas in Herat and Nimroz provinces to final home destinations.
The Japanese funds will also be used to provide direct assistance to trafficking victims through the construction of a rehabilitation centre in Kabul after IOM found there was currently no place in Afghanistan suitable for assisting victims of trafficking on a long-term basis, especially children. The centre will help provide shelter, food, clothing, medical care, psycho-social support and vocational and educational opportunities for victims of trafficking as well as referrals for long-term reintegration assistance.
IOM will in addition involve NGOs in its counter-trafficking work to build up local skills and knowledge in identifying, assisting and referring trafficking victims whilst also training one NGO to run the rehabilitation centre.
Border guards in Herat and Nangarhar provinces will also be targeted for training on how to identify and treat with a victim of trafficking so as to strengthen national efforts to fight the crime.
For further information, please contact Ivan Davalos, IOM Afghanistan, Tel: +93 20 220 10 22, Email: idavalos@iom.int
ITALY - IOM and FAO Help Migrants to Invest in Countries of Origin - Helping migrants to invest in agricultural development in their home countries is at the heart of a new agreement between FAO and IOM.
FAO Deputy Director-General Jim Butler and IOM Deputy Director-General Ndioro Ndiaye today signed the agreement to collaborate on agricultural projects which stem directly from migrant communities in Europe and other nations of the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development).
The collaboration will allow support such as the provision of technical assistance to both agricultural and agro-processing projects proposed by migrants for development in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East which could lead to additional income and job opportunities in origin communities. Partnerships with local and central governments in both developed and developing countries would be sought as well as seeking ways to mobilize human, financial and in-kind resources from governments, migrants' associations, NGOs and the private sector.
The agreement, signed at FAO headquarters in Rome, reflects growing international recognition of the key roles played by migrants in their countries of origin through their contributions of financial support and expertise.
Migrants remitted an estimated $283 billion in 2008 to developing countries, higher than the amount provided through foreign aid or foreign direct investment, according to World Bank figures.
The cornerstone of the agreement between the two organizations is the concept of co-development, a kind of two-way street through which migrants can put their expertise and remittances behind development in their countries of origin while, at the same time, increasing their own integration in their host countries.
Under the Decentralized Cooperation Programme (DCP) launched in 2002, FAO has forged or begun negotiations on 28 cooperation agreements with regional and local authorities in Italy, France, Spain and Belgium for the development of projects in selected countries.
In 2001, IOM launched the Migration for Development in Africa (MIDA) Programme that has implemented projects involving African migrants and their host communities in several European countries to support productive investments in African countries.
For further information, please contact Flavio Di Giacomo at IOM Rome, Tel: +39 06 44 186 207, Email: fdigiacomo@iom.int
