Sonrisas de Bombay promotes an insertion program for victims of human trafficking in Spain

The fight against human trafficking knows no borders, in fact, one of the main problems many victims of human trafficking face is that they are in another country, with another culture, in front of a language they do not understand and with no one known For this reason, traffickers often do not even need to use violence, because by isolating the victims from their environment , they already manage to leave them unprotected and can exploit them.

In order to help the victims who find themselves in this situation in our country, a few years ago the Sonrisas de Bombay foundation created a project to prevent human trafficking in Spain. This unit works mainly from a prevention perspective , offering awareness-raising workshops on this problem and training to those institutions and entities where potential victims of human trafficking can be identified. These trainings for professionals from different strategic sectors such as health centers, tourist environments or reception centers are used to be able to identify the detection factors to recognize a possible victim and know how to report a possible case .

Thanks to the legacy of the NGO and its work in countries such as Nepal, India, Bangladesh and Pakistan , the project has also focused heavily on rehabilitation. For this reason, they have a complete insertion program to be able to support people who are victims of human trafficking from this area.

How the embed program works

When a person arrives who has been a victim of human trafficking or exploitation , the most important thing is to know their history and their needs in order to assess how they can support them.

The language barrier is usually a problem, which is why they have translation services to make communication easier. Once this step is passed, they can offer legal support if there is a complaint or legal process underway. In fact, according to Spanish law, a victim of human trafficking (who is usually here in an irregular situation) has the right to a work and residence permit .

There are times when the person wants to return to their country of origin, for this reason, from Sonrisas de Bombay they offer the possibility of returning if they so wish . They coordinate, together with their team in South Asia and the relevant authorities, on a case-by-case basis, their return home in a way that is safe and easy so that they do not have to depend on human trafficking mafias.

Comprehensive support

For those who choose to stay in Spain, it is very important that they have a good integration into society . For this reason, within the foundation they have a team leader who is responsible for comprehensive support and managing the different social resources for their integration.

They offer psychological and socio-labor support , so that they can access new opportunities and have a successful insertion. One of the first steps in this program is to learn or improve the language, so they take courses so they can defend themselves well. They also offer professional training courses thanks to which they have many opportunities to get a job. The NGO has collaborations with some entities that offer workshops and vocational training such as kitchen, warehouse worker, etc. so that they can access decent jobs.

Stop to improve your life

Many of the people they work with, once they are freed from human trafficking and exploitation, find themselves alone in our country with no wages to live on or to send their families (the main reason they immigrated in the first place ). The Bombay Smiles team finds that many times it is difficult to ask them to not work for a while to complete their placement program , as they need a home and to send money to the family.

That is why it is important to make them understand that thanks to the insertion program they will have more opportunities to find a decent job and give them the option of a better future.