Cardinal Vincent and Ambassador William L Swing, director of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) have committed themselves to strengthening their joint work in preventing human slavery.
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales and the IOM began collaborating four years ago and the memorandum of understanding signed on 30 June 2015 develops that partnership by enhancing the project on training and awareness-raising. This programme, delivered by a combined CBCEW-IOM team, works with a wide range of groups and has already trained several hundred people to identify the signs of human trafficking and advise on how to assist victims. That programme will now be expanded significantly.
The IOM is an inter-governmental body founded in 1951. It now has 157 member-states and works 'to promote humane responses to the growing migration challenges of today'.
