Status
Active
Start - End
2022 - 2024

As a pioneering project, this collaborative effort gathers 5 areas of the OAS intending to strengthen the capacities of seven (7) OAS Member States to prevent and investigate organized crime linked to the exploitation of Venezuelan refugees and migrants, particularly human trafficking, and migrant smuggling. The project also seeks to strengthen border management in the beneficiary countries to increase detection of the irregular movement of goods, and people; and to promote the inclusion of the victims and survivors of these crimes in society.

The 7 countries - Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guyana, Panama, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago – benefit from different activities led by Department of Public Security (DPS), the Secretariat of the Inter-American Committee Against Terrorism (CICTE), the Department of Social Inclusion (DSI), the Department Against Transnational Organized Crime (DTOC), and the Working Group to Address the Venezuelan Migration and Refugee Crisis in the Region.

The project is funded by the Anti-Crime Capacity Building Program (ACCBP) of Global Affairs Canada. Thus, it is aligned with its priorities to prevent and counter transnational organized crime.

Objectives

Main objective: To strengthen the capacities of participating Member States to combat human trafficking and migrant smuggling, as well as to prevent and investigate organized crime linked to the exploitation of Venezuelan refugees and migrants.

Specific objectives:

  • Increased awareness, knowledge, and skills of police, migration officers, first responders, and service providers in using resources for the protection, investigation, and assistance of human trafficking victims, with a focus on gender and human rights perspectives.
  • Increased awareness among security, migration, and local authorities regarding the risks, vulnerabilities, and rights of migrants, refugees, and victims of human trafficking.
  • Increased participant capacities to apply updated SOPs for detecting irregular migration in the cargo stream, considering human rights and the needs of female and gender-diverse persons.

Activities
  • Develop a specialized anti-TIP investigative protocols and national training workshops for Colombia, Panama, and Trinidad and Tobago.
  • Elaborate international legal cooperation guidelines and conduct training in use of guidelines for Colombia, and Panama.
  • Develop manuals for police migration control operations; “train the trainers” program, and training replicas in Ecuador, Colombia and Peru.
  • Organize workshops to raise awareness about Regional Guidelines for the Social Inclusion of Human Trafficking Survivors in the Americas and launch a regional handbook for mainstreaming a Human Rights, Gender, and Intercultural Approach for authorities in Colombia, Costa Rica, Panama, and Guyana.
  • Coordinate national roundtable discussions to develop country reports concerning human trafficking and migrant smuggling in Colombia, Ecuador and Guyana.
  • Develop national and/or subregional Intermodal Cargo Examination Courses, national technical assessment missions and Mass Migrant Tabletop Exercise in Colombia, Guyana, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, and Trinidad and Tobago.
Beneficiary Countries
Colombia
Colombia
Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Ecuador
Ecuador
Guyana
Guyana
Panama
Panama
Peru
Peru
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago
More Publications
Publications
December, 2023
Regional Guidelines for the Social Inclusion of Survivors of Trafficking in Persons in the Americas
February, 2023
Regional Handbook for Mainstreaming a Human Rights, Gender, and Intercultural Approach in the Work of Immigration and Border Security Authorities of the Americas
December, 2023
Manual On International Legal Cooperation In Human Trafficking And Smuggling Of Migrants
Available only in Spanish
March, 2024
Practical guide for inter-institutional coordination and proactive investigations of Human Trafficking and Migrant Smuggling: Colombia
Available only in Spanish
February, 2024
Manual on International Legal Cooperation to Counter Organized Crime
March, 2024
Guide for the Safe Management of human mobility and the identification of crimes of human trafficking and migrant smuggling
Available only in Spanish
March, 2024
Manual for the Safe Management of Human Mobility and the Identification of the Crimes of Human Trafficking and Smuggling of Migrants in Peru
Available only in Spanish
March, 2024
Guide for the investigation and litigation of crimes of Human Trafficking and Illicit Smuggling of Migrants linked to Transnational Organized Crime: Panama
Available only in Spanish
March, 2024
Manual of International Legal Cooperation in Human Trafficking and Illegal Smuggling of Migrants: Panama
Available only in Spanish
Cover of the Manual for the safe management of human mobility and the identification of human trafficking and migrant smuggling crimes
December, 2023
Manual for the safe management of human mobility and the identification of human trafficking and migrant smuggling crimes (Available in Spanish only)
Available only in Spanish
Team
Guillermo Moncayo
Principal Advisor of the Secretariat for Multidimensional Security
Daniel Tovar
Project Manager
Diana Henao
Project Officer
Strategic Partners