IOM is launching a series of special meetings to increase awareness of human trafficking among vulnerable flood-affected communities living in the central Sofala , western Tete and coastal Zambezia provinces in Mozambique.
The group discussions will take place from 9 to 20 November in eleven locations in the districts of Caia, Mutarara and Morrumbala including Chilomo, Tengane, Muriri, Mponha, Gera, Gaute, Ndambuenda, Mapulango, Canga, Caia and Morrumbala Sede.
They will bring together IOM counter-trafficking experts alongside hundreds of beneficiaries and community leaders from areas where existing vulnerabilities to trafficking have been exacerbated by recent flooding.
An assessment carried out by IOM in May 2007 clearly established that the regular destruction of livelihoods increased the vulnerability of communities to human trafficking.
"Tailor-made approaches engaging communities through their leadership can considerably reduce vulnerabilities to trafficking," says IOM's Nely Chimedza. "IOM is also providing funds to the most vulnerable to help them start income generating projects, so they can become self-reliant and therefore less exposed to trafficking."
Group discussions will focus on the various forms of trafficking, on preventive strategies and practices and on setting up informal community protection mechanisms in times of natural disasters.
Income generating activities focusing on farming will be carried out in partnership with the NGO Oikos-Cooperação e Desenvolvimento and in coordination with the Mozambican Department of Agriculture.
Seeds for maize, beans, cassava and sweet potatoes, which can be grown in flooded areas will be distributed as will fertilizer and agricultural tools as part of efforts to reduce vulnerabilities and increase local food security. Business management training for beneficiaries will also be made available.
This Japanese funded initiative falls under IOM's regional Southern African Counter Trafficking Assistance Programme (SACTAP) that addresses human trafficking across Southern Africa.
Mozambique is a source and to a lesser extent, a destination country for men, women and children trafficked for the purpose of forced labour and sexual exploitation. Children are regularly trafficked from rural to urban areas with promises of employment or education, as well as to South Africa for domestic servitude and commercial sexual exploitation. Young men and boys are also trafficked to South Africa for farm work and mining.
IOM's SACTAP is funded by the Norwegian Embassy in South Africa and the US Department of State, Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM)
For more information, please contact Nely Chimedza at IOM Maputo, Tel +258 21 310 779, Email: nchimedza@iom.int
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