IOM's #GAF: Global Assistance Fund

IOM and Migrant Assistance Global Assistance Fund

After her ordeal as a trafficking victim, Aída who is just 22 years old, remains positive about her future. She has set up a clothing store in partnership with her grandmother (seen in back) and plans to continue her studies © IOM 2012

GAF: IOM’S GLOBAL ASSISTANCE FUND Direct Protection and Reintegration of Trafficked Persons

IOM’s Global Assistance Fund (GAF) provides assistance in countries of destination, transit and origin which can include safe accommodation, medical care, psychosocial support, legal assistance, assistance with retrieving lost or stolen travel documents and career counselling.

GAF also offers the option of assisted voluntary return in cases in which the beneficiary expresses a wish to return to his or her home country as well as reintegration assistance, which may consist of post-arrival reception assistance, educational support either for the beneficiary or for his or her children, skills training and small business grants to support incomegenerating activities.

Geographical Coverage GAF is available to stranded trafficked persons worldwide, excluding Australia, Canada, Europe, Japan, New Zealand, and the United States of America.

IOM’s Global Assistance Fund (GAF) is an emergency support mechanism that provides case-specific assistance to men, women, and children who become victims of trafficking, and who are not eligible for assistance through comparable regional or national-level projects.

Funded by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM), the Nippon Foundation, the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Prince Ghazi Foundation and private donations, GAF has provided direct assistance approximately to more than 1,831 victims of trafficking since its inception in 2000 and serves an increasingly diverse range of beneficiaries every year.

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How to Access the Global Assistance Fund

Trafficked persons in need of protection can apply directly to IOM’s Migrant Assistance Division in Geneva, Switzerland, at mad@iom.int, the nearest IOM country office, or by way of referral from an IOM partner, including identified intergovernmental agencies, government ministries and embassies, and non governmental and civil society organizations.

156 Member States more than 480 field locations more than 8,400 staff working on over 2,600 active projects More than USD 1.3 billion expenditure in 2013 over

International Organization for Migration Migrant Assistance Division mad@iom.int

iom is committed to the principle that humane and orderly migration benefits migrants and society. As an intergovernmental organization, iom acts with its partners in the international community to: assist in meeting the operational challenges of migration, advance understanding of migration issues, encourage social and economic development through migration, and work towards effective respect of the human dignity and well-being of migrants.

© IOM 2014_MAD_05_EN

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child labour

forced prostitution

iselle was 13 years old when her father passed away in 2011.

Her stepmother, who no longer wanted responsibility for her, had her smuggled from her native Rwanda to Uganda to work as domestic help with a host family that promised to send her to school. However, her working conditions proved unbearable; she was required to work long hours with little rest, slept on the floor and was never sent to school. Finally, after more than a year, Giselle managed to escape and, after living a few days on the streets, she was rescued by a local NGO partner of IOM. IOM took care of Giselle and provided her with protection and assistance, including medical and psychological support and basic literacy training, before she was finally reunited with her biological mother in Rwanda in 2013. Thanks to the reintegration support provided by IOM, Giselle, who is now 16 years old, is attending school full-time.

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RDC

Angola

Uganda Kenya Rwanda Tanzania

n 2013, six Asian women between the ages of 31 and 38 fell into a forced prostitution ring in Ghana after being deceived by a Chinese trafficker who had promised them jobs in a casino in Norway. These women, who were held against their will in miserable living conditions for months, were forced to provide sexual services to clients to pay their traffickers.The Anti-Human Trafficking Unit of the Ghana Police Service, which discovered the trafficking network and apprehended the traffickers, brought the victims to a safe shelter and referred them to IOM for protection and support. The women, who had been profoundly affected by the abuse they suffered through this experience, decided to testify against their traffickers in a local Ghanaian court. IOM cared for them throughout the process, providing protection, medical and psychosocial care and safe shelter. At the conclusion of the process, IOM also facilitated their safe return home.

China Vietnam

Thailand

One of the six Asian women during an IOM assessment

Philippines Namibia

Giselle was escorted by an IOM Caseworker to Kigali, where her mother and her step-father were happy to finally be reunited after a long separation

Indonesia

forced marriage

exploitation

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n 2011, two men in their mid-thirties from a remote village in Nepal were attracted by a fraudulent advertisement for a world passport that they found on an internet site. They were promised passage to the United States of America and a job.

In November 2012, after paying the staggering amount of USD 6,000 per person, they started an 11-month journey through various countries, including Singapore, China, Brazil, Panama and finally, in January 2012, Haiti, which was supposedly their last stop before reaching the USA. They were taken to a private home in the northern city of Cap HaĂŻtien, where their passports were confiscated and they were kept as prisoners with little food and dirty drinking water. They were threatened and told to call their families for more money. Speaking in their mother tongue, the men explained to their families that they were being held hostage and described the landmarks they had seen as they were being transported to the house. The relatives in Nepal contacted the military in their village, who in turn contacted the Formed Police Unit (FPU) in Cap HaĂŻtien, part of the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH). A rescue mission was led successfully in collaboration with the National Haitian Police and the two men were referred for protection and assistance to IOM. They expressed their wish to go back home. Once there, one man started a hardware store business and the other found work as a farmer.

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usra, of Yemeni nationality, was 14 years old when her family forced her to marry a much older man who, she discovered, had psychological problems. Soon after the wedding, he started beating her. Yusra managed to escape the situation, but fell into a trafficking network, where she was forced to prostitute herself against her will. After being apprehended by the local Yemeni police, she was imprisoned for a year. However, at the end of her sentence, her family refused to take her back home.

Yusra was then referred to a series of shelters for victims of violence, where she stayed for approximately three years. Finally, in 2012, she was referred for support to IOM, which was able to provide her with a comprehensive reintegration package tailored to her specific needs.With IOM’s support,Yusra elected to enrol in a marketing course to set-up a small business for the production of local perfumes.Yusra has now managed to enrol in a University course in business management, which had always been her dream.

Iran

Pakistan India

Saudi Arabia Oman Yemen Somalia Yusra during a training on creating perfume

China Nepal India

Bhutan

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Bangladesh

The two Nepalese villagers during their moving testimony.

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