Protection and assistance for trafficking victims

Voluntary return and reception in the country of origin

Few international standards relate to the return of victims of trafficking. Article 19 of the 1949 Convention for the Suppression of Trafficking in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others stipulates that the costs of repatriation have to be paid for by the victim of trafficking. In case the victim can’t meet the costs of the repatriation, the receiving state is obligated to provide temporary care and legal repatriation.

However, the recently drafted UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime, provides for the obligation of the country of origin to accept and facilitate the return of a victim without undue or unreasonable delay. The country of origin has to issue travel documents or any other authorisation necessary for travel and re-entry, as well as to verify, without undue or unreasonable delay, whether the victim is its national. Receiving countries are obligated to guarantee that the return shall be with due regard for the safety of the returnee and for the status of any legal proceedings related to the fact that the person is a victim of trafficking and shall  preferably be voluntary.

Some individuals who have been deceived and exploited by traffickers wish to return to their country of origin. However, while some of them can apply for voluntary repatriation programmes, others face deportation. In both cases, obstacles might prohibit their return especially when they migrated without legal documents or when traffickers have confiscated these.

Victims of trafficking are often deprived of all financial means to enable them to return to their country of origin and lack legal travel documents. Therefore it would be desirable for the countries involved in the repatriation process to provide funds for the victims to return home, combined with the provision of necessary assistance and support.  

Furthermore, there is a need to set up programmes to guarantee the safe return of victims wishing to return to their country of origin. These programmes should offer a broad variety of services tailored to the individual needs of the returnee such as pre and post departure counselling, financial support, integration assistance, follow-up and referral assistance, family mediation as well as vocational training, continuing education, opportunities for self-support and job-seeking.

Assisted voluntary return

Since 1979, the International Organisation for Migration has been implementing assisted voluntary return programmes on behalf of EU Member States.

These large-scale return programmes have proven to be a more humane and cost-effective alternative to forced deportation.

These return programmes offer a humane solution to the migrant who wants to avoid the stigma of deportation and its possible negative repercussions regarding successful reintegration.

As the cost of travel is kept to a minimum through arrangements with airline companies and other public transport and freight carriers, these return programmes are less expensive compared to the costs of deportation procedures and the longer-term social costs for a prolonged stay.

The assisted voluntary return programme basically consists of three stages of implementation: pre-departure, travel and post-arrival. It offers information and counselling for migrant communities in the host country, travel arrangements and optionally, when IOM is present in the country of origin, post-arrival reception, information, referral, start-up finance and homeward travel.

IOM has been implementing a series of assisted voluntary return programmes in several countries such as Belgium, Italy and Germany. For the purpose of this brochure, we shall be illustrating the case of such return using the example of Belgium..

Assisted voluntary return and reintegration

In recent years, IOM has been running several assisted voluntary return and reintegration programmes in several countries of origin. For the purpose of this brochure, we shall be illustrating this initiative with the example of the assisted voluntary return and reintegration programme in the Mekong region as it is the oldest.

Since 1996, IOM has been running a project on prevention, voluntary return and integration in partnership with concerned government agencies, NGOs and IGOs in the six countries of the Mekong region: Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Laos and the Yunnan Province of China. 

The overall objective of this project was to break the cycle of trafficking and re-trafficking through the establishment of an efficient infrastructure for the voluntary, secure and humane return and reintegration of trafficked and other vulnerable women and minors, as well as empowering victims of trafficking in order to reduce their vulnerability to being re-trafficked.

In this regard, the project aimed, through networking and the enhancement of an institutionalised and multi-sector approach by deepening co-operation between government authorities and NGOs, to evolve from a return and reintegration programme to the establishment of a regional counter-trafficking mechanism.

In the countries of origin, the return and reintegration programmes provided a wide range of activities depending on the availability and capacity of co-operating organisations.

The return and rehabilitation programmes were carried out either by government authorities or NGOs providing beneficiaries with medical and mental health services, shelter, education, counselling, vocational training, follow-up, micro-credits and income-generating activities. 

Since the start of the project, several hundreds of victims have been assisted to return to their country of origin. A number of them also participated in the reintegration assistance programmes.

In addition to the voluntary return and rehabilitation programmes, several prevention activities focussing on community counter-trafficking and HIV awareness-raising in countries of origin were undertaken.

Likewise, projects assisting communities prone to illegal migration and trafficking have been carried out.

Additionally, activities have been carried out in the training of government and NGO staff in the protection, return and reintegration of victims of trafficking. These activities entailed on-the-job training by technical advisors, study visits, training internships, workshops and the publication of a manual concerning the treatment of victims.

Furthermore, the project entailed research studies and several forum activities on reintegration strategies and illegal labour movements.