La Estrella is a Colombian city with a high presence of migrants, especially from Venezuela.
Bogota, (Colombia) March 7, 2022 - An anonymous complaint received by the Territorial Directorate of the Ministry of Labor in the department of Antioquia (Colombia) tested a valuable tool, the result of a joint work between that office, the Colombian Prosecutor's Office and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), through the Track4Tip Initiative.
This tool for the identification of cases of trafficking in persons for forced labor is the result of a process to strengthen the institutional response in the identification and referral of these cases with a focus on the migratory context, articulated with the Prosecutor's Office, the institution in charge of investigating and prosecuting.
The event occurred in the municipality of La Estrella, located in the northwest of Colombia, a city with a high presence of migrant populations, especially of Venezuelan origin.
"The migrant population arrives in very vulnerable conditions, which exposes them to all these trafficking in persons networks. We fulfilled our task, that is, to find, identify and reference them. It is a resounding success," says Juan Camilo Vásquez, Advisor to the Colombian Ministry of Labor's Directorate of Mobility and Job Training.
Thanks to the tool, the labor inspection was able to establish the presence of Venezuelan migrant population, where other situations that can be classified as trafficking in persons were evidenced. "The capacity from the Ministry of Labor was strengthened by having a tool that allows having that referral channel with the Attorney General's Office; it was of utmost importance," he says.
In addition, he stressed that the implementation of the tool and the result obtained in this first experience is, from now on, a success. "Understanding the dynamics of the specific crime in Colombia and thanks to this tool, the Ministry of Labor will contribute to the work of the Attorney General's Office with indications that are going to allow it to establish a potential case of trafficking in persons for forced labor purposes."
At the moment, the Ministry of Labor continues with the training to the Territorial Directorates so that they start with the application of the mechanism, following the steps of Antioquia.
Jhonatan Rico Valencia, Coordinator of Labor Inspectors in the Department of Norte de Santander, in the city of Cúcuta, on the border with Venezuela, is keeping a close eye on the process. "We cannot put criminals behind bars, but we can identify cases. The mechanism will provide us with an orderly step-by-step approach. The institutions are working to put an end to this scourge and can provide protection to a victim of trafficking in persons," he said.
According to the Global Report on Trafficking in Persons, 32% of the victims identified worldwide were exploited for the purpose of forced labor and services. Latin America and Colombia follow this trend.
"Although the data show how this specific phenomenon is a growing problem, it is essential to consider that the real impact is much greater", points out Rocío Urón, Coordinator for the Fight against Trafficking in Persons and the Smuggling of Migrants of the UNODC, due to the unprecedented migratory wave that the countries of the region have been receiving since 2015.
Precisely this situation was evidenced in the situational report conducted by UNODC under the TRACK4TIP Initiative in Colombia on trafficking in persons in the context of migratory flow from Venezuela, presented in July 2021, and which accounts for the risks and vulnerabilities of the migrant population in the face of trafficking in persons, as well as the recommendation to strengthen the capacity of the authorities of the Ministry of Labor especially with this population and with exploitative purposes such as forced labor.
The tool was developed thanks to the support provided by the TRACK4TIP Initiative and the British Embassy in Colombia through technical roundtables and validation spaces at the national and territorial levels, and includes key elements for the work of labor inspectors such as the national legal framework, indicators of possible occurrence of the crime and the response mechanisms for assistance and referral to authorities such as the Attorney General's Office. Likewise, training sessions have been developed with practical case studies in the territories in order to identify and refer cases based on its implementation.
About TRACK4TIP
TRACK4TIP is a three-year initiative (2019-2022), implemented by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), with support from the U.S. Department of State's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons / JTIP.
The project benefits eight countries in South America and the Caribbean with national and regional actions in Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Trinidad and Tobago, Curaçao and Aruba.
The overall objective of the project is to enhance the regional criminal justice response to trafficking in persons in the migratory flows of the beneficiary countries through a multidisciplinary and victim-centered approach, with actions at the regional and national levels to identify, prevent and prosecute cases.
This press release was made possible with the support of the U.S. Department of State under the terms of Agreement No. SSJTIP19CA0027. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Department of State.
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