June 5, 2002

Santo Domingo – On June 5, 2002, the U.S. Department of State released its second annual Trafficking in Persons Report. In this report, the United States brings attention to the fact that the Dominican Republic is making significant efforts in several areas.

For example, during the past year the Secretariat of Women and the Inter-Institutional Committee for the Protection of Migrant Women (CIPROM), have been working with the International Organization for Migration (OIM) to combat the trafficking of minors within the country through an informational prevention campaign. In the last year, the Secretariat of Labor in collaboration with the International Organization of Labor (ILO)/International Program for the Eradication of Child Labor (IPEC), initiated a campaign to Eradicate the Worst Forms of Child Labor, which include child prostitution among other sections under attack. The Dominican Government has given specialized courses to Dominican Consuls posted abroad on how to provide assistance to trafficking victims.

Working with the Dominican Government on this matter, the U.S. Department of State has awarded $80,000 to the OIM to run an anti-trafficking campaign and promote anti-trafficking legislation. As part of this effort, a speaker from the newly established Trafficking in Person’s Office of the State Department will be speaking in a seminar on Legislation Against Trafficking in Persons on June 6, here in the Dominican Republic.

This annual report is mandated by the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act which became law in 2000. In order to try to eliminate the trafficking in persons in countries where such trafficking is a problem, the report includes countries of “origin, transit, or destination for a significant number of victims of severe forms of trafficking.”

This report will be available to the general public at: http://www.state.gov.