Bogotá, Colombia - 17 April 2018 - Under the framework of the Global Action against Trafficking in Persons and the Smuggling of Migrants ( GLO.ACT), on 6 April 2018, UNODC organized the first planning meeting of 'La Alianza', Colombia's alliance of civil society organizations (CSOs) against TIP. The aim of the meeting was to support the alliance in identifying its strengths and weaknesses and to develop a plan to strengthen its work between 2018-2020. The event brought together 21 representatives from 15 CSO from around the country.
During the meeting, participants expressed the need to strengthen coordination between government and CSO in the fight against TIP, given that both have experience and valuable knowledge that should be used to address this crime in the country.
Speaking at the event, Mr. Carlos Andrés Pérez Gallego, National Project Officer for GLO.ACT in Colombia, said, "One of the roles of the GLO.ACT project has been to facilitate and guarantee a respectful dialogue between all the actors involved in the fight against TIP and the Smuggling of Migrants (SOM) in Colombia". Mr. Tito Contreras Angarita, Cooperation Officer at the European Delegation to Colombia, highlighted that "one of the important results achieved by GLO.ACT in Colombia is the creation of networks and platforms accessible to all interested stakeholders in the fight against trafficking in human beings and migrant smuggling".
Ms. Betty Pedraza, General Director of Corporacion Espacios de Mujer, one of the CSOs with technical secretariat role in the alliance said, "This meeting is a great opportunity to analyze how we are all working against human trafficking and how we can collectively have more impact."
The meeting concluded with participants agreeing on how to keep the alliance operational over the coming years. In addition, strategies on how to approach local and national authorities, after the up-coming presidential elections, were agreed upon. The need to develop mechanisms to improve the alliance's visibility and communication was also addressed. Concrete agreements will be included in the first action plan of 'La Alianza' that will be shared amongst all key alliance stakeholders over the next few weeks.
The Global Action to Prevent and Address Trafficking in Persons and the Smuggling of Migrants (GLO.ACT) is a four-year (2015-2019), €11 million joint initiative by the European Union (EU) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The project is being implemented in partnership with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). GLO.ACT aims to provide assistance to governmental authorities and civil society organizations across 13 strategically selected countries: Belarus, Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, Kyrgyz Republic, Lao PDR, Mali, Morocco, Nepal, Niger, Pakistan, South Africa, Ukraine. It supports the development of more effective responses to trafficking and smuggling, including providing assistance to victims of trafficking and vulnerable migrants through the strengthening of identification, referral, and direct support mechanisms.
For more information, please contact:
Mr. Carlos Andrés Pérez
GLO.ACT National Project Officer
carlos.perez@un.org
www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/glo-act/
Twitter: @glo_act