As part of the World Day against Trafficking in Persons, IOM, the UN Migration Agency and Colombia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs presented the results of Ante la trata no se haga (In the Face of Trafficking, Don’t Pretend), the fifth phase of a prevention campaign against the crime of human trafficking.
The initiative was made up of a series of play-based, educational activities that target people ages 15 to 35 from four municipalities on the Colombian border. These municipalities run the risk of trafficking because of their geographic location.
Ante la trata no se haga seeks to increase awareness and provide collective support and prevention tools to communities. The activities carried out explained to communities how trafficking works, how it affects people’s lives, and how it can be avoided. At the end of the sessions, participants wrote their personal commitment to not be indifferent to human trafficking on a piece of tape. Then, all of the pieces of tape were put together to make a huge red banner against human trafficking.
According to statistics from the Government of Colombia, between 2014 and 2017, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs attended to 258 cases of human trafficking at its consulates abroad. Of the total number of people attended, 81 per cent of victims were women (208 cases) and 19 percent were men (50 cases). It is important to note that the most frequent type of exploitation in the last five years was sexual exploitation with 160 cases (63 per cent), followed by labor exploitation with 73 cases (29 per cent), and servile marriage with 20 cases (8 per cent).
Since 2014, IOM and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have carried out an annual campaign inside and outside of the country to fight against human trafficking and ensure that every day fewer Colombians are victims of this crime. This is how, through the initiative’s five phases, Colombia has been able to raise citizens’ awareness of this crime and ability to recognize risk factors.
