Brasilia, Federal District, Brazil - 12 March 2018 - The Global Action against Trafficking in Persons and the Smuggling of Migrants ( GLO.ACT) together with the Special Secretariat of Policies for Women of the Presidency of the Republic held a technical meeting of focal points belonging to the Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Data Network on 1 March 2018. The network is led by the National Policy to Combat TIP, which includes the National Secretariat of Policies for Women, the Ministry of Human Rights and the National Secretariat of Justice.
The objective of the meeting was to discuss the Secretariat's proposal for the implementation of the Protocol of Attention to Women in Situation of International Trafficking in Persons of the Meeting of Ministers and High Authorities of Mercosur. The meeting was the first of three meetings; the remaining meetings will look at subjects such as assistance provisions for TIP victims, including their access to shelters, and prosecution of traffickers under the protocol.
During the meeting, each institution presented their TIP databases and discussed limitations and possibilities of coordinating the data with other institutions. Participants spoke about the difficulty of identifying and registering TIP cases, the need for better data collection technology, the importance of confidentiality, the need to revise the current methodology of data collection, the need to train those who receive reports and how these reports may be important evidence for police investigations. All participants agreed on the importance of continuing to obtain reliable and accurate data to underpin the protocol. Furthermore, participants also agreed that more work was needed to develop effective policies against TIP from a gender perspective.
The Consular Assistance Division and the Social Themes Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs proposed capturing the reality of Brazilian TIP victims abroad. According to their data, in Europe, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Holland and Italy are main destination countries for female TIP victims, whereas in South America Guiana, Suriname and French Guiana are destinations countries. Most of the women are between 18 and 35 years old, and the main forms of exploitation identified have been sexual exploitation, labor exploitation and false imprisonment. In addition, the existing network of women shelters, known as the 'Brazilian Woman House' and managed by the National Secretariat of Policies for Women, was also discussed.
At the end of the meeting a set of criteria and indicators were agreed upon regarding the registration of TIP cases in databases, taking into account the victims' consent to do so and the information sharing method among the institutions in the Anti-Trafficking in Persons' data network. Moreover, the development of a national protocol, along the lines of the Protocol of Attention to Women in Situation of International Trafficking in Persons of the Meeting of Ministers and High Authorities of Mercosur, was also proposed.
Additional meeting participants represented the 180 hotline for women of the National Secretariat of Policies for Women, the General Coordination of the 100 hotline for Children of the Ministry of Human Rights, the General Coordination to combat Trafficking in Persons of the National Secretariat of Justice, the Department of the Federal Police, the Consular Assistance Division and the Social Themes Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Working Group to Combat Trafficking in Persons of the Public Defender's Office.
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. GLO.ACT works with the 13 countries to plan and implement strategic national counter-trafficking and counter smuggling efforts through a prevention, protection, prosecution, and partnerships approach. 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:
Ms. Fernanda Patricia Fuentes Munoz
National Project Officer
Liaison and Partnership Office in Brazil
fernanda.fuentes@unodc.org
https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/glo-act/
Email: glo.act@un.org
Twitter: @glo_act