The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has today honoured University of Johannesburg (UJ) students from the Departments of Strategic Communication and Graphic Design for their contribution towards the fight against trafficking in persons in South Africa.

Earlier this year, IOM partnered UJ to develop integrated awareness raising campaigns on Human Trafficking in South Africa as part of the University’s annual Strategic Communication curriculum and student assessment.

The students, working in groups and functioning as communication and marketing agencies, conducted in-depth research to determine appropriate strategies using the principles of Interactive and Direct Marketing to raise awareness on human trafficking. The top five student groups presented their final campaign strategies to IOM in August this year. Today, IOM presented awards to the top three campaign strategies and also honoured the University for its Contribution in the fight against trafficking in persons.

“Human Trafficking is a hidden criminal activity and therefore, it is under-reported. Education and outreach campaigns play an important role in combating trafficking in persons. This innovative partnership with UJ will help intensify our awareness raising efforts to save potential victims from this brutal crime but also empower the general public to report suspected cases of trafficking to law enforcement authorities,” says Richard Ots, IOM South Africa Chief of Mission.

Every year, South Africa marks national human trafficking awareness week in an effort to increase awareness of trafficking in persons across the country. To mark this year’s human trafficking awareness week, IOM in partnership with the National Department of Justice, the National Prosecuting Authority have already started piloting one of the concepts (The Cargo Box) from the students’ submissions in this year’s outreach activities.

A special Cargo Box containing a #TRAPPED ‘puppet’ will travel across public spaces in South Africa to demonstrate the journey of a victim of trafficking whilst educating the general public about the  bondage, forms of exploitation and the trauma that victims suffer at the hands of traffickers. Once recruited and transported to their destinations, victims are usually trapped in helpless and exploitative situations.

“Part of our role as educators is to teach our students an awareness of the world in which we live, and the opportunity to partner with organisations like IOM over the longer term offers our students an invaluable opportunity to use our knowledge and skills to the benefit of the society, thus contributing not only to quality education but also to the quality of life in our society. We are pleased about the student’s achievements because this is recognition that it is possible to successfully integrate service learning into our curriculums, thus giving our students the opportunity to experience real life learning, whilst also reflecting on their personal roles in it by making a real contribution to society,” says Prof Sonja Verwey HOD Strategic Communication at the University Of Johannesburg.

The winning campaigns have been entered into the Assegai Integrated Marketing Awards. Similar collaborations in the past have yielded 10 Assegai Awards. IOM will continue to work with UJ to bring to the fore, issues of migration through innovative marketing and communication strategies.

For more information please contact Gaone Dixon at IOM Pretoria, Tel: +27 72 127 7094, Email: gdixon@iom.int