Social media, with great emphasis on WhatsApp and Facebook, is the main method human traffickers are using to recruit victims and proliferate their operations. This was revealed during a presentation by representatives of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) on Tuesday at the Hilton Trinidad and Conference Centre in Port-of-Spain.The IOM presented the findings of its Situational Analysis of Assistance Efforts to Survivors of Human Trafficking as part of the Migration Multi-Partner Trust Fund’s (MPTF) Access, Support and Coordination (ASC) Programme: A Collaborative Approach to Support Survivors of Human Trafficking.Members of the government, the diplomatic community, United Nations (UN) agencies, academia, non-governmental, and civil society organisations were in attendance. The Situational Analysis produced other key findings including:(i) Trinidad and Tobago is primarily a destination country for human trafficking and may be a source country; (ii) Human trafficking schemes are intricately organised with networked criminal enterprises comprising experienced operatives in both Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago;(iii) Sexual exploitation emerged as the most prevalent form of exploitation.The analysis also found that victims of trafficking were being exploited for the purpose of labour, albeit to a lesser degree; and that the COVID-19 pandemic heightened migrants’ vulnerability to trafficking. Speaking on behalf of the Minister of
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IOM POS: Human traffickers mainly using FB, WhatsApp to lure victims
