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Strengthening the resilience of vulnerable populations through Trafficking in Persons protocol development

Primary GCM Objectives

GCM Guiding Principles*

*All practices are to uphold the ten guiding principles of the GCM. This practice particularly exemplifies these listed principles.

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Dates

2021 - 2022

Type of practice

Project/Programme

Geographic scope

Country:

Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)

Regions:

Americas

Sub Regions:

South America

Summary

The main goal of this activity was to strengthen government capacities in providing improved services for victims of trafficking through the design and implementation of referral pathway protocols for the Metropolitan Area of Caracas and in the states of Apure, Bolívar, Falcón, Sucre, Táchira and Zulia. The secondary goal was to design a package of crime prevention measures, which was developed with IOM’s support for the identification of and support for victims of trafficking, adapted to different groups of professionals who may encounter them, such as labour inspectors, medical personnel, police, prosecutors, immigration agents and others.

The central outcome of this initiative is to establish a set of protocols for the detection, identification, and referral of possible victims of trafficking for government officials who may come in contact with them. Three specific protocols will be developed:

1) One protocol for special prosecutors dealing with trafficking cases in the Public Prosecutor Office;

2) One protocol for labor inspectors in the Ministry for the Social Process of Labor; and

3) A special protocol for delegated Ombudsmen at the national level.

The protocols seek to fill the gaps and strengthen inter-institutional cooperation between the government departments. An intra-institutional cooperation module is included in the protocols and also formally establishes a cooperation network amongst key departments in government. Examples of concrete impacts on migrants’ rights in relation to the specific institutions are the following:

• Ministry for the Social Process of Labor: Labor inspectors now have included in their tasks the detection, identification, and referral of possible victims of trafficking and their referral to the Prosecutors’ Office. When a labor inspector detects and identifies a possible TIP, he/she must forego any administrative action and refer the case immediately to the Public Ministry, which will then carry out the next steps as TIP is considered a serious crime in Venezuela and carries criminal penalties. As for the VoT, they must be protected immediately by the labor inspectors until they are delivered to the Public Ministry for assistance and protection.

• Ombudsman’s Office: Previously only handled minors’ cases, but the new protocol developed with IOM will include a complete procedure for the entire population. The Ombudsman office has asked for IOM support to open offices in Santa Elena del Uairen and Tachira for the newly created Ombudsman’ Office for Refugees, Migrants and Victims of TIP.

• Prosecutor’s Office: Previous protocol dealt with the victims of violence and crime in general. The new one will specifically address victims of trafficking as well as potential victims of trafficking. • In the trainings, references are made to the Organic Law of Indigenous Communities, the national legal framework concerning protection of indigenous peoples.

Organizations

Main Implementing Organization(s)

International Organization for Migration (IOM)

Detailed Information

International Organization for Migrations

Benefit and Impact

Government capacities will be strengthened through the protocol orientation to officials and especially identification and referral training for those who will likely be the first point of contact for potential victims of trafficking. This will establish a mechanism of action and minimum standards for care and assistance to VoT, without discrimination based on sex, age, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation. Although Venezuela has protection and care protocols for victims of violence in general, specialized protocols for TIP does not exist. Thus the special protocols distributed as the official guideline are expected to have an impact on crime prevention and identification.

Eight (8) hour training strategy with government officials have been applied, divided into seven (7) modules and covering the states, Apure, Bolívar, Capital District, Falcon, La Guaira, Miranda, Sucre, Táchira and Zulia. Another free strategy is to send information and various IOM materials to the emails of the officials participating in the training, as well as promoting the use of the E-Campus platform for free courses on this and other subjects. An institutional network mechanism has been promoted with groups that have been trained in some training sessions so that they can support each other as a network of services that they can provide to a possible victim. From August 2021 to March 2022, one thousand fifty (1050) officials belonging to ninety-three (93) institutions of the Venezuelan government have been impacted.

Key Lessons

There should always be close contact with the government authorities concerned. This implies regular, periodic visits and invitations to trainings and activities that could be offered within the broader framework of IOM projects. CO Venezuela has been able to cultivate a close relationship with institutions linked to the subject of trafficking, despite not having trafficking-specific projects. In our experience, if an institution (even down to the level of individual officials) feels included and connected to IOM, it makes ongoing advocacy work easier, and when concrete deliverables sought, the discussion becomes much more fluid and simpler.

Another lesson learned is the importance of segmenting the trainings and designing them according to the needs of officials in line with their level of decision-making power and sphere of influence, while keeping in mind all officials require some sensitization to the issues at hand. All technical and field personnel of first contact must be aware of this. For example, some officials may benefit from shorter training sessions with more conceptual and public policy content and the global perspective, while others may require different content. Training customization and content sensitization are very important to ensure that the authorities have empathy towards migrants and do not feel indifferent to migrants’ struggles so that migrants can access the support and services they need.

The outcome from our stakeholder engagement as well as advocacy activity could be measured against key milestones in our relationship with the stakeholders. For example, focal points were appointed in each office for this project, and in the case of the Ministry of the Social Labor Process, a commission chaired by the Vice Minister of the Integrated System of Labor Inspection and Social Security was established. Another milestone achieved is the participatory nature of the protocols and the commitment that followed at the highest level in each entity, which led the protocols to be included in the relevant directives. The fact that the government partners agreed to the trainings that are currently underway is another indication that our advocacy has been successful.

Innovation

To strengthen the case for the special protocols, IOM carried out a rapid mapping of key actors and an analysis of existing coordination gaps at the national and local levels. Once knowledge and information gaps were identified, stakeholders were convinced of the importance of establishing and proceeding with more complete protocols. The central and sector-specific protocols were then jointly designed in a participatory manner. As the first step towards the process design, in collaboration with local and national actors, IOM developed an inter-institutional coordination protocol that defines the joint referral pathway, according to the competencies and roles of each institution. The protocols are currently in the validation phase. Upon validation, IOM will organize trainings for government officials both in the border areas and the capital.
All government officials and bodies receiving TIP related complaints must now refer possible TIP cases to the Public Ministry (Ministerio Público: MP), the competent body for care of victims and for criminal investigation of any form of violence and/or criminality. MP has specialized prosecutors for TIP (95th prosecutor's office with national competence in trafficking in women and 96th prosecutor's office with national competence in trafficking in children and adolescents) as well as protection of women, children and adolescents. Likewise, in cases where children and adolescents are possible trafficking victims, joint referral is made to the Council for the Protection of the Rights of Children and Adolescents. Both organizations have presence at the national level.

Additional Resources

Good practice

Date submitted:

08 February 2022

Disclaimer: The content of this practice reflects the views of the implementers and does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations, the United Nations Network on Migration, and its members.

 

 

*References to Kosovo shall be understood to be in the context of United Nations Security Council resolution 1244 (1999).