Visiting Colombian Juan Manuel Luna and his wife Maria
Cristina Lasso from the International Organisation for
Migration, share a light moment on board Caribbean
Princess docked on Wrightson Road, Port-of-Spain.
Photo: Jennifer Watson

Visiting Colombian Juan Manuel Luna from the International Organisation for Migration said he works with marginalised children and those who have been victims of crimes like human trafficking. His organisation, he said, tries to give young people a new lease on life by providing capital and programmes to lift them out of poverty.

Luna, in Port-of-Spain for the Fifth Summit of the Americas, spoke on Wednesday on Youth on The Move: Young People and Migration. He was accompanied by his wife Maria Cristina Lasso. President Alvaro Uribe Velez and his wife Lina also attended the summit. The couple, of Bogota, were having lunch break at Coral Dining Room, on board the Caribbean Princess, at the harbour at Wrightson Road, Port-of-Spain. Luna said his work gave him an opportunity to work with young Colombians who had been victims of crime.

“We try to give them opportunities. We try to help them establish their rights. We try to give them access to training and education. We give them capital to start a business. We give support to the Government programmes,” he said. Luna said he also assisted them with developing their social skills and problem solving. “We train them not only to resolve situations. But how to plan for long term goals,” he said. Luna said some of his work was approved by the Ministry of Education.

Human trafficking in Colombia
Another topic that pained him was human trafficking. In Colombia, Luna said about three million displaced young people were potential victims of human trafficking. “They can be victims of human trafficking. We have the problem of excommitants. They can be recruited by illegal groups. We work with families to help them to protect their children from crime, violence and human trafficking.”

In this segment on migration, the youths were addressed by Bolivia’s Annelissie Arrazola from Young Americas Business Trust, president of Trinidad Youth Council Akins Vidale and Mexico’s Ana Roldan, a professor from Universidad Authonoma Quaretaro. They were also addressed by USA’s Amy Coughenour, Deputy Director of Pan American Development Foundation and Dominican Republic’s Eddie Gonzales.