Keys against trafficking: supporting victims and investigating the money route – Télam

“Guaranteeing the full restitution of the rights of rescued victims, that judicial investigations go in depth to dismantle the economic base of these networks and the federal articulation” of public policies are the three “major problems to be solved” to fight more effectively against this. type of crimes, assured the director of the Executive Committee against trafficking and exploitation of persons, Gustavo Vera.

According to data provided to the Committee by the National Rescue Program, from January 1 to August 31, 2021, a thousand victims of trafficking were rescued and assisted in 20 provinces: 68% corresponded to labor exploitation and 21% to sexual slavery.

“By the time we took over, we found three major issues to be addressed that were not being addressed effectively,” Vera said during a dialogue with Tlam.

The first is that it was not a question of “guaranteeing the full restitution of the rights of the victims rescued”, a reality which is attested by the fact that “from 2008 to date 17,000 people have been rescued, but only 20% have achieved social reintegration and 80% are still in a state of vulnerability “.

From January 1 to August 31, 2021, a thousand victims of trafficking were rescued and assisted in 20 provinces: 68% of labor exploitation and 21% of sexual slavery (National Relief Program Committee)“

The official attributed this to the fact that “there were no clear policies on access to housing, employment and therapeutic support” for the survivors, because “although the rescue program intervened in the first few weeks, when reintegration began, the plans were extraordinarily weak or nil. “

To start reversing this situation, Vera explained that “this week the ‘National Program for the Reparation of Rights and the Building of Professional Skills for Those Affected by the Crimes of Trafficking and Exploitation of Persons’ promoted by the ministry of the Work of the Nation “with the aim that dozens of survivors can gain access in the short term to decent work in the private or public sphere, by receiving an” unpaid monthly allowance equivalent to the minimum wage for one year “during the period of employment. vocational training.

The Program is aimed at people over the age of 18 who do not have formal employment and who have been questioned, detected, rescued or assisted as victims or potential victims of situations of human trafficking or exploitation by a National, Provincial or Municipal Public. Agency. , or by a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) duly authorized by the competent authority.

“Then there are initiatives at the provincial and municipal levels, such as the case of Catamarca, where today a law for the inclusion of victims of trafficking in the private sector has been partially sanctioned with the incitement that the state reimburses the social charges of people hired for a year, ”he explained.

“The” National Program for the Repair of the Rights and Strengthening of Professional Skills of Persons Affected by Trafficking and Exploitation of Persons “promoted by the Ministry of Labor of the Nation begins to be implemented”“

Gustavo Vera

He also referred to the case of San Miguel de Tucumn, where an ordinance “established a quota for the reintegration of victims of trafficking into municipal posts, equal to 1%” of the staff.

The University of Tierra del Fuego, whose Board of Governors ordered in 2020 the creation of a 2% quota for survivors of trafficking and sexual exploitation, was a pioneer in this type of measure.

“We hope that San Miguel de Tucumn and Catamarca will have a contagious effect and, in fact, Misiones is discussing a similar project,” added Vera.

But support for survivors does not stop at work and this is why “a framework agreement was signed with the Ministry of Health” to guarantee therapeutic assistance for victims and another with the Ministry of Planning. of the Territory and the Habitat by virtue of which “a special status of access to housing is created so that in the emergency quotas available to each housing organization, it must have reserved a segment for victims to access a new house or the construction of housing modules if they have land ”.

The Program is aimed at people over the age of 18 who do not have formal employment and who have been identified, detected, rescued or assisted as victims or potential victims of situations of trafficking or exploitation of persons.“

In addition, the Ministry of Justice announced that in November, the Trust Fund Implementation Unit will be launched to administer all property confiscated judicially to repair victims of the crime of trafficking.

“This whole package of measures is aimed at restoring the rights and preventing the re-victimization of the victims, because otherwise what happens is that they again fall into the hands of the trafficking networks, the same people have been rescued in different years, “he said.

Second, another “big problem” is that human trafficking is “the third most profitable crime” after drug and arms trafficking, so its fight will not be effective as “the way of money laundering money and dismantling its root economic structure ”.

“In the nearly 530 final convictions for human trafficking since the law was promulgated, the majority of convicts are the last links in the chain of executioners, with whom we have a lot of condemned parsley but we rarely look for more. everything, ”he said.

Human trafficking is “third most profitable crime” after drug and arms trafficking“

Ministry of Justice

Attentive to this, “we have signed a cooperation agreement with the UIF which will be integrated into the executive committee”, as well as with AFIP through the recently created “illegal work department”.

“And thirdly, the fight against trafficking is impossible if there is not a maximum cooperation of the three powers of the State in a federal manner, with daily coordination with the provincial and local authorities and with the organizations of society. civil, ”he said.

In this sense, he explained that “at the moment in the country there are interinstitutional tables” composed of all these actors in 20 of the 24 provinces, which not only allow the realization of “coordinated actions” and a ” multicontrol “which” decreases the possibilities of organizations which act at their discretion and with liberated areas “.

In particular, this articulation was very useful during phase 1 of the quarantine due to the pandemic where “travel and communications were quite slowed down”, despite what “the work in each province made it possible to maintain the bar high in the area. fight against trafficking. . “.

“And there is also a very hard work with the Chancellor for cooperation agreements for the warm borders,” he added.