Posted: March 24, 2016. 1:00 p.m. CST.
By BBN Staff: Belize joined four other Caribbean countries in a two day workshop geared at strengthening the coordination to counter trafficking in persons in the Caribbean region, organized by the International Organization for Migration (IOM). 
A press release quoted project manager Rukiya Brown as saying that “One aim of the workshop is to promote among the participants the use of regional cooperation and to share information, ideas and techniques.”
The IOM’s Caribbean partners have identified over 350 trafficked persons over the past 10 years, which is why the organization believes that the work “towards developing regional mechanisms in relation to victim identification, investigation and data sharing regarding cases is an important part of a comprehensive counter trafficking strategy.”
The IOM has been working for more than nine years with countries in the Caribbean providing training to stakeholders and assistance to victims while providing technical assistance to Governments and raising public awareness through information campaigns. Caribbean countries have been equally committed which has led to an increase in investigations and successful prosecutions.
The training that was held on March 16th and 17th was the first of other activities of the IOM’s sub-regional project in the Caribbean. Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and Belize took part in the training that was funded by the US Department of State Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons.
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