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COATNET participates at the World Social Forum in Belem
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From 27th January to 1 February 2009 the 9th edition of the World Social Forum took place in Belem, Brazil, symbolizing the more and more crucial necessity to reconcile
development needs and the preservation of the planet. Around over ten themes were discussed during various activities organized
at the Forum, with a separate day devoted to the problems affecting people of the Amazon, bringing together organizations
of the nine countries and territories of the Amazon area.
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During the Forum a number of seminars tackling the problem of trafficking in human beings were organized by Brazilian and
international organizations, for example, by CPT (Pastoral Land Commission, National Campaign against Slave Labour in Brazil),
Projeto Trama, Caritas Manaus, and Caritas France.
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A seminar organized by Caritas France was attended by several partners of COATNET (Christian Organisations against Trafficking
in Human Beings NETwork) who, together with other invited speakers elucidated the issues related with the opportunities and
threats of a globalised communication in the fight against human trafficking. Dom Jose Luis Azcona, President of Justice and
Peace Commission, Brazil described the gravity of the problem of trafficking in persons and drugs in Marajo - the poorest
municipality in Brazil located at the mouth of the Amazon River. According to the Bishop of Marajo, many kilometers of the
city's border are without surveillance, which allows the criminal activities and corruption to thrive. The Bishop emphasized
the high-level risk and danger of the fight against human trafficking and criminal groups, providing an example of murder
of a person who was investigating into human trafficking cases, and death threats that he himself received from traffickers
(please find attached an article in Portuguese about a campaign launched by the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil - CNBB).
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An introductory speech of Dom Jose Luis Azcona was followed by the presentation of Natalia Kovaliv, COATNET Coordinating officer,
of a global overview of human trafficking phenomenon, and the role and mechanisms of communication and networking in the anti-trafficking
area basing on the experience of COATNET. Natalia mentioned that online communication can be hampered in light of the fact
that new technologies always require time and experience in order to take full advantage of their capabilities, as well as
adequate resources and training needed for enabling effective and secure communication. However, in spite of those hindrances,
communication and networking among anti-trafficking actors still remain to be the most important means for increasing cross-border
flows of information in the areas of trafficking prevention, assistance provision to trafficked persons and advocacy work.
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| Mungreiphy Shimray claims that a core root cause of human trafficking in Asia is the denial of human rights, dignity, justice
and entitlements to the excluded and marginalised
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Fr. Bosiljko Rajic from Caritas Bosnia and Herzegovina, Oksana Ustynova from Caritas Ukraine, Naingaral Madjiro Raymond from
Justice and Peace Commission, Chad, and Mungreiphy Shimray from Caritas India provided overviews of trafficking situation
in their regions of the world and briefed on strengths and weaknesses of communication in awareness raising and prevention
of human trafficking, in the area of assistance to trafficked persons and advocacy activities The seminar finished with the
recommendations for improvement of communication and networking in the respective areas of anti-trafficking work.
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(Download presentations and interventions of this seminar from our extranet. If you do not have access to our extranet but are interested to receive one or more presentations/interventions, you can
approach Natalia Kovaliv by e-mail natalia@caritas-ua.org with a request for this).
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A seminar organized by Caritas Manaus tackled the problem of trafficking in women. Participants willing to attend the seminar
were requested to take off shoes and cover their eyes before entering the room. This aroused the interest of the public who
crowded outside the room in a row waiting to be lead inside through the stones and sticks imitating the hard road of trafficked
persons. After locking the room, the organizers turned into traffickers, victims and their relatives. The performance was
followed by the introduction of trafficking in women and anti-trafficking work carried out by Caritas Manaus and other non-governmental
organisations.
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Indeed, women in Latin America, like in other primary source regions for trafficked persons - Southeast Asia and the former
Soviet Union, are most vulnerable to trafficking. Even where women have achieved the same educational levels as men, women's
employment continues to be concentrated in low-wage, informal sector jobs. In addition, a long history of physical or sexual
abuse also exacerbates the situation of women. Therefore, women's empowerment aimed at the stimulation of feminine participation
in public policy decisions is considered to be of primary importance. One example of such movement is MMIB (Movimento de Mulheres
das Ilhas de Belem), which involves women and youth who live in the islands near Belem and are engaged in several programmes,
for instance, the production of biojewels, paper recycling, growing tapioca plants and collecting seeds for the production
of toiletry by Natura Cosmetics.
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The World Social Forum has presented a unique opportunity for COATNET partners to acquaint themselves with the realities of
root causes of human trafficking in Latin America and establish networking with various anti-trafficking organizations and
the civil society in general.
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Article in Portuguese about a campaign launched by the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil - CNBB
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Visit the website of the World Social Forum 2009 to read results of the assemblies of the Alliances Day and see photos
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