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Friday 14 September 2007
Spokesperson: Jemini Pandya |
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PERU- Distribution of Assistance to Earthquake Victims Continues
INDONESIA – IOM Backs Police Reform Process
AFGHANISTAN – Afghan Officials Pick Up Computing, English Skills
FINLAND – Strengthening Counter Trafficking Expertise
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PERU- Distribution of Assistance to Earthquake Victims Continues- IOM this week continued to distribute tents and other emergency relief supplies, such as folding beds, mattresses, blankets, sheets and kitchen sets to victims of the earthquake that struck the Department of Ica on 15 August.
IOM is working closely with Peru’s Civil Defence Institute (INDECI by its Spanish acronym) to help implement an emergency shelter strategy to bring direct assistance to victims of the quake who have decided not to abandon their damaged homes.
To date, 3,657 tents have been distributed and set up to shelter vulnerable families living in and around the towns of Ica, Pisco and Chincha.
Convoys have arrived this week in Pisco with an additional 3,000 tents, 4,000 folding beds and 12,500 blankets.
Three IOM teams of twenty staff have been deployed to the area to work closely with INDECI, local authorities and the army to ensure assistance is brought on victims who have remained on their land so that they can watch over their belongings and begin rebuilding their homes.
IOM began purchasing emergency relief supplies immediately following the approval of US$4,419,000 million from the UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) for IOM to carry out its emergency work in Peru.
Peru’s National Institute of Civil Defence reports that 519 people lost their lives and 1,366 were injured; 60,519 houses were destroyed and more than 14,000 were damaged. Fourteen hospitals were completely destroyed and 103 were damaged.
For further information contact:
Oscar Sandova, IOM Lima,
Tel: +51 1 221 7209 Email: osandoval@iom.int
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INDONESIA – IOM Backs Police Reform Process - IOM and the Indonesian National Police (INP) this week hosted a one-day seminar on enhancing the role of the National Police Commission (Kompolnas).
The seminar, which is part of a broader six-year IOM police reform programme funded by the Netherlands, included keynote speakers from the Japanese National Police Agency and the US International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program.
Kompolnas chair Widodo AS opened the event, which was attended by members of Kompolnas, senior INP officers, members of the House Representatives, academics, NGOs and donor representatives.
The objectives of the seminar were to redefine the role of the appointed, supervisory Commission in the development of democratic policing in Indonesia and to strengthen its role in defining and developing future INP policy.
Since 2004, IOM has helped the INP to train almost 100,000 policemen and women in community policing and human rights. The programme will eventually train a total of 200,000 police personnel throughout Indonesia.
For more information contact:
Jihan Labetubun,IOM Indonesia
Tel: +62 8111907028, Email: jlabetubun@iom.int
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AFGHANISTAN Afghan Officials Pick Up Computing, English Skills – A group of 21 staff from the Afghan Ministry of the Interior’s Identity Checking Unit (IDCU) graduated from a 3-month computer course this week, completing a year of IOM-supported study that also included intensive English classes.
“The training course was extremely useful. Previously they used to write letters by hand. Now they can type and use computers which makes our work much easier,” says IDCU Director General Colonel Nawroz Khaliq.
The IDCU plays an important role in the return process of Afghan nationals living in third countries. Since its creation in 2004, it has verified the identity and nationality of over 1,000 people seeking asylum or returning to Afghanistan from abroad.
IOM, with funding from Australia, helped the Minstry of the Interior to establish the unit and subsequently built its capacity through providing equipment and training.
The project is part of a wider IOM programme to help the Afghan government to develop the policy, legislation, administrative structures and human resources needed to tackle diverse migration management issues.
For further information, please contact:
Katsui Kaya, IOM Afghanistan
Tel: +93 0 700 185 961 Email: kkaya@iom.int.
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FINLAND – Strengthening Counter Trafficking Expertise – Finnish asylum reception centre staff in Helsinki are being provided with two days of training on how to identify, care for and reintegrate victims of human trafficking.
The Scandinavian country is considered to be a transit and destination country for human trafficking with most of the cases involving the labour exploitation of Asian men in the restaurant and construction industries.
Finland’s role as a transit country for human trafficking presents difficulties in the provision of assistance as in many cases migrants are unaware that they may be exploited when they reach their destination in other countries in Europe.
The training, organised by IOM and the Finnish Ministry of Labour, will also use the expertise of a Ukrainian non-governmental organization (NGO), Revival of the Nation in addition to IOM staff to optimize the assistance already being provided to trafficking victims in Finland.
Since 2000, IOM and its network of over 90 NGO partners in Ukraine, where human trafficking is a serious concern, have provided assistance to thousands of trafficking victims and are well placed to transfer their expertise to Finland.
Such assistance in the Scandinavian country is coordinated by the asylum reception system, a result of a recently developed governmental assistance structure. Support includes the reception of victims and emergency help, housing, social and health care services, advisory and legal services, as well as supporting the integration or safe return of victims.
Since the majority of employees of asylum reception centres including social workers, nurses, refugee advisors and directors of reception centres have not dealt with trafficking victims before, the training is both timely and necessary.
For further information, please contact:
Dr. Thomas Lothar Weiss, IOM Helsinki
Tel:+358 9684 1150 Email: tweiss@iom.int
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