IOM Finland organised a workshop in Iceland in early April on Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration (AVRR) of Victims of Trafficking. The participants were 26 local counsellors working with migrants, and the aim was to enhance their knowledge on the support available for victims of trafficking when returning home.  

“IOM started AVRR services in Iceland in 2016, but the programme is not very well known yet”, tells IOM’s project coordinator Cayan Fahim. 

“We want to ensure that if a victim of trafficking wanted to return home, they would receive all the support that is available and wouldn’t return home without the knowledge of the support that AVRR programme could offer”.  

The programme offers victims of trafficking cash support to help them restart their lives. IOM also conducts a risk assessment prior to travelling, to ensure that the return will be safe and in the best interest of the person. The goal is to ensure, that the person will not be revictimized and is not in the risk of being trafficked again. 

“If the person in question prefers to move to a new area or if there would be another problem with reintegrating to the society, we connect them with our local counterparts who can offer help, for example shelter homes and NGOs offering assistance”, Fahim adds.

The workshop was facilitated by Anna Hardy from IOM Brussels' Migrant Protection and Assistance Unit. She also introduced global trends of human trafficking to the audience.

More information:

AVRR project pages here.

Cayan Fahim 
Project coordinator, AVRR
IOM Finland
cfahim@iom.int