GHANA - Another Group of Trafficked Children Rescued - The first 11 of a group of 36 trafficked children to be rescued by IOM in Ghana this year have arrived safely in the rehabilitation centre in the capital, Accra.
The six boys and five girls, aged between 5 and 15, had spent between one and a half and eight years with their "masters".
The children, trafficked for forced or bonded labour into fishing communities in Kete-Krachi and Yeji along the shores of Ghana's Lake Volta had been sold for little money by impoverished parents in the belief that the children would be adequately fed, educated and taught a useful trade.
Instead, the children had been forced to work extremely long hours by their fishing "masters" on Lake Volta, including doing heavy and dangerous work such as retrieving nets caught under water. While most of the boys are made to work in the fishing industry, the girls act as cooks, servers and porters. Very poorly fed, never paid or sent to school, the children are also physically and verbally abused by their "masters".
The 11 children were taken by IOM staff to a government rehabilitation centre where they will be given counselling, medical assistance, educational assistance and art therapy over the next three and a half months by IOM as well as government and local non-governmental organization (NGO) partners.
The children will then be reunited with their families and communities and enrolled into schools or given vocational training in order to restart their lives. Parents of the trafficked children will be given micro-credit for income-generating activities so they can better support their families. This can include starting or expanding existing businesses such as selling foodstuffs and textiles or small restaurants known as "Chop Bars" or supporting agricultural activities.
IOM staff is also travelling today to Yeji on the northern shores of Lake Volta where some of the remaining 25 children will be rescued by the weekend from a life of drudgery and abuse through extensive negotiations with the fishermen. In return, the fishermen receive training and micro-credits to help them improve their fishing techniques or engage in other income-generating activities absolving the need to use child labour.
Following a subsequent rescue mission in Kete-Krachi in March in which IOM plans to rescue the rest of the 36 children, IOM will have rescued a total of 684 children from Lake Volta since it began the programme in 2002 in collaboration with local NGOs, such as Friends for Human Development and Partners in Community Development, and the Ghanaian government. The programme is funded by the US State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM).
However, since 2008, it has had to limit the number of children it can rescue to 36 each year in order to provide adequate reintegration assistance that includes continued medical follow up and educational assistance, such as mentoring and tutoring. Health assessments post-rescue usually reveal severe levels of malnutrition, stunted growth as well as other long-term health, education and other needs.
The rescue of 36 children last year and the 36 children this year has been possible due to continued support from PRM and private donations and sponsorships from the United States and other countries, including fund-raising initiatives by children such as One-is-Greater-than-None (1>0), teachers and students from the Deer Park School in the US State of Illinois, Kids Helping Kids with Nothing, and Global Giving.
For more information please contact Jo Rispoli at IOM Accra, Tel: +233.244 975250, Email: jrispoli@iom.int
EL SALVADOR - One Hundred Applicants Selected for Labour Migration
in Canada - A group of 100 Salvadorians have been selected to take
part in the IOM-managed labour migration programme with Maple Leaf Foods in
Canada.
Two groups totalling 41 persons are travelling this week and next to take up their new positions in the company's plant in Saskatoon. Another group of 34 persons will travel to Canada in March to work in the Maple Leaf plant in Lethbridge, and the remaining 25 workers will travel to Canada once the company decides in which plants they are needed.
The selected applicants received pre-departure cultural training from IOM, Canadian officials in El Salvador, and the Government of El Salvador. IOM staff escort the migrants and help them settle into their new homes.
Roxana Arely Flamenco was one of the labour migrants to travel in the first group. She told IOM's Adela Joza: "I appreciate all of the support we received from IOM and the Salvadorian Government. The IOM staff has been very supportive and provided vital information for our new life in Canada. IOM has been very kind to us and even travelled with us to Canada. We hope IOM will not abandon us."
IOM's labour migration selection process begins, following a request from the employer, with advertisements in local media, and then continues with the processing and screening of applications, pre- selection interviews, visits to the applicants' homes, and medical check-ups. The final selection is carried out by the employer during a face-to-face interview with the candidates pre-selected by IOM.
After the final selection, the applicants receive IOM assistance in gathering documents and filling in forms to obtain travel documents, support in case of questions regarding their employment contracts, medical exams, language training and cultural orientation.
Maple Leaf Foods is a Canadian-based food processing company with more than 23,500 employees across Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and Asia, and operates more than 100 facilities.
For more information please contact Adela Joza at IOM El Salvador, Tel.: + 503 2 264-6590/ 91, Email: ajoza@iom.int or iomsansalv@iom.int
For additional information
Jean-Philippe Chauzy Tel: 41 22 717 9361 - Mobile: 41 79 285 4366 pchauzy@iom.int
