They will intensify the fight against human trafficking

The Attorney General’s Office of the Republic announced that it will toughen its policy of persecution, trafficking and smuggling of people in the border area.

To this end, the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office against Illegal Trafficking of Immigrants and Human Trafficking (PETT) held a regional meeting of authorities in Montecristi to strengthen policies against human trafficking and illegal migrant trafficking in the Northern Zone.

The activity, which has the support of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), addressed the challenges of human trafficking and migrant smuggling in the border region.

The specialized body of the Public Prosecutor’s Office seeks to detect the real needs of this judicial department that limit the effective combat of these crimes.

The event brought together authorities and experts from the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office, the Ministry of Women, the National Council for Children and Adolescents (Conani), the General Directorate of Migration, the Ministry of Defense, the Specialized Corps for Land Border Security (Cesfront) and the National Police, as well as judges, prosecutors and psychologists from the northern border provinces: Montecristi, Dajabón and Santiago Rodríguez.

The specialized agency of the Public Prosecutor’s Office stressed that they seek to have direct and personalized contact with the key actors that make up the northern border coast to contribute to the strengthening of the different institutions that make up the justice system in this area and achieve an increasingly effective response to these crimes.

You can read: Children are a group affected by human trafficking

During the meeting, which is part of a series of exchanges at the national level, Magistrate Yonna Bejarán, head of the PETT, urged participants to share good practices and discuss the challenges facing the justice system in the northern border area.

Also speaking at the event were Alba Goycoechea, Head of the IOM Mission; Judge Arlenys M. Cabral, Coordinating Judge of the Judicial Department of Montecristi, and María Paredes, Coordinator of Assistance to Vulnerable Populations of the IOM.

The PGR stressed that the objective is to strengthen strategies for the prevention and prosecution of these crimes. The discussions focused on promoting inter-institutional cooperation and identifying innovative solutions that will allow the development of an effective action plan to improve the identification, prevention and prosecution of cases of human trafficking and smuggling.

This meeting is part of the IOM Regional Migration Programme, whose main objective is to contribute to the development and implementation of strategies in the regions to promote regular, orderly and safe migration, seeking adequate protection for the most vulnerable migrants.

As part of the agenda of the activity, held at the Provincial Government, working groups were created where the different institutions outlined the needs for the effective combat of these criminal activities.

Conversation
Within the preventive and awareness-raising framework of public and private sector institutions, as well as non-governmental organizations and at the initiative of the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office against Illicit Trafficking of Migrants and Human Trafficking, a discussion was held with members of the Association of Hotels and Restaurants of the municipality of San Fernando.

The event was held at a hotel in this province
Both activities were carried out thanks to the Regional Migration Program of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), funded by the United States Department of State.