7 February 2012
- Russian FM visits Damascus as the US closes its embassy there
- New Opposition Military Council announced as violence is renewed in Homs, Zabadani and Idleb
| February 2010 - News |
| February 2010 |
|
New shelter for trafficked women opens in Aleppo
A new shelter for female victims of trafficking opened in Aleppo on January 7. The shelter is part of a wider SYP 99m (EUR 1.5m) EU-funded International Organization of Migration (IOM) programme. It was opened in cooperation with Syria’s Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour and the Juvenile Welfare Association for Girls. The Aleppo shelter will provide direct assistance to trafficked women through medical and psycho-social care, post-rescue rehabilitation and vocational training. It is the second of its kind in Syria, following the opening of a shelter in Damascus in December 2008. So far, the Damascus shelter has hosted 30 non-Syrian victims of trafficking who have been provided with medical and psycho-social help, as well as food and non-food assistance. Syria’s government and the IOM have moved to address the issue of human trafficking in recent years following the arrival of large numbers of refugees from Iraq, an EU-IOM press statement said. It added that female heads of households were usually the most vulnerable to trafficking rings because they often lack the means to find employment to take care of their children. Syria’s cabinet endorsed counter-trafficking legislation in December. It specifies the fines and prison terms to be imposed on those who work in human trafficking circles and is currently awaiting ratification by the parliament. |
7 February 2012
| |||
