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MIGRATION
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Treatment of the repatriated "Hide those who have been driven out, do not let the fugitive be seen. Let those who have been driven out of Moab stay with you; be their refuge against the destroyer." (Isaiah 16.3b-4a) Resources seem to be extremely limited everywhere for support of people repatriated after rescue from trafficking, but good examples do exist – and could always do more with additional funding. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has a project that rescues and rehabilitates women and children in Moldova who have been trafficked, giving them a chance to lead normal lives again. All the beneficiaries in the programme have an individual assistance plan. This can include psychological counselling, family counselling, finishing school or college, vocational training, or even starting a small business. Essential legal documents, often left behind during the victims' escape from their traffickers, are replaced. For further information (or to donate) see The IOM also has a project supporting trafficked children in Ghana in which the key objectives are to provide long-term support to trafficked children in their communities of origin, continuous rehabilitation and reintegration assistance, follow-up assistance based on each sponsored child’s individual needs, to ensure that the results and achievements obtained through the Yeji Trafficked Children Project are made sustainable and to reduce the children’s vulnerability to being re-trafficked following the period of IOM sponsorship. The POPPY Project has 35 bed spaces in London to provide accommodation and support for women who have been trafficked into prostitution. Once accepted onto the project women are allocated a senior support worker and offered a range of specialist support services. These include provision of a food/subsistence allowance, a health and needs assessment, registration with a GP in order to receive any necessary medical treatment, access to counselling services, access to education and English classes, integration and/or re-settlement support including, where applicable, support with the voluntary return scheme, education sessions covering areas such as equal opportunities, welfare benefits and healthy relationships, help contacting family and friends, support accessing legal advice, including information relating to immigration status and applications for asylum, liaison with police and immigration services, risk assessments and safety planning. They also have an outreach service to assist women across the UK. A trafficked girl escapes her captors and rebuilds her life. Case Study from the Open Horizon Group visit to Romania EU integration increased migration – a lot left for work with the open borders. The way the traffickers operate has been changed – no need to pay bribes to cross borders now these are open/visas not needed, so activity at that level is reduced. Also it is now harder to identify people as victims. Victims are identified in the destination country and returned – so are only counted in Romania on that return. Italy currently has thousands of Romanians providing care of elderly and children with low pay, poor conditions, no rights etc so they are exploited for labour. So virtually all Romanians working there are victims of labour exploitation. The National Agency has succeeded in getting some government money for direct assistance and is now looking at project proposals to distribute this for NGOs. There is no real model across Europe as to how government money is used for decent services to assist victims. The current money has to be spent in 3 weeks – across 50 victims and this is difficult to provide assistance rather than just charity! They will use the funding for lawyers, dentists etc as the only way of spending it usefully and quickly. Projects were announced last year but the government is slow in releasing money. Working within the legal system is currently a minefield – so funding bids are really complicated and with a tight framework. It really is just a means of spending leftover money at end of year rather than a real desire to support the work. The national agency lobbies for funding from government and needed organisations like ADPARE to apply otherwise they have no credibility to apply next year (so hearing that ADPARE will not apply if it is the same process next year complicates matters). The closure of the IOM shelter impacts hugely. Currently no one is taking over the funding of repatriation. There were 12 places for long-term assistance and 4 for transit. The main destinations were Italy and Spain but now also the Netherlands, Turkey, Greece, England, Ireland. A woman was being met at the airport that evening and taken to a transit shelter for a night – Ireland does not allow her to stay nor offers support and an NGO there has paid for repatriation. Contact has been made with the police in her area to ensure she is safe to return and that traffickers are not still there. The lack of relevant legislation in Ireland means people are not identified as victims. While the Law exists in England but no one has been prosecuted so it is not being operated fully. In future the Ministry of Labour will have EU money and that department will write projects and then distribute funding with NGO partners, the NGOs do not have access to the money directly any more. Staff of agencies are now feeling insecure and refusing interviews etc as the openness of borders means security is so much more difficult. Therefore traffickers have the power and control. IOM now seem to not be paying for repatriation and so funding is difficult for an escort too, which is really necessary for safety and support in transit. There are international discussions as to repatriation being paid by area to which victim returns but many Romanians come from poor villages and two tickets would be whole year budgets! The ADPARE site is in Romanian but has some powerful artwork related to trafficking Related stories A report claims that the Taliban killed asylum seekers that Australia sent back to Afghanistan. Hundreds of failed asylum-seekers deported from the United Kingdom claim they have been beaten and racially abused by British escort teams who are paid to take them back to their home countries.
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