WILLEMSTAD - The Ministry of Justice, through the official in charge of human trafficking cases, Norman Marchena, together with representatives of IOM U.N. Migration have held a special training titled Identification, Referral and Protection of Victims of Human Trafficking. The training was held on January 27 and 28. It took place at the Training Institute for Law Enforcement and Security Care (ORV).

Mrs. Argentina Crus was the representative of IOM Panama. She trained the participants during these two days.

During the training, several topics were covered. Some of these were the vulnerability of the situation of the migrants, elements of human trafficking, the impact of human trafficking on the health and welfare of the victim, identifying a victim, the manner in which a victim of human trafficking should be interviewed, protection and assistance to the victim. The training was interactive and in the end the participants had to give a presentation. At the end of the session, the participants had a discussion on the context of human trafficking in Curaçao. The spoke about working together internally in the ministry and externally with other ministries to share necessary information on how to deal with human trafficking.

Those who participated are representatives of several government entities like the Ministry of Justice, Public Prosecution, Victim Care, Police Corps, Immigration Service, Office for Children’s Welfare, Ministry of Social Development, Labor and Welfare, Ministry of Economic Development, Planned Family and Care and Recovery Foundation.

At the end of the two days, the parties agreed that they will work on a manual that mentions all the departments involved with these cases and a policy that refers the victims to these entities. The participants want a professional structure and are requesting assistance from IOM.