Currently tuned into @WOLA_org's Webinar on Human Trafficking amid a Pandemic: Confronting the Exploitation of Fleeing Venezuelans. @DevonCone is rightly noting that trafficking is a data black box and improving data should be a focal point for regional gov'ts.

Border closures across the region have been accompanied by officials sneaking migrants across irregular routes, according to @r_schmidtke. She also highlights evictions, loss of income, and return migration as part of an 'ecosystem' contributing to trafficking.

Trafficking victims are also faced with limited options since resources are being diverted due to the pandemic and shelters are being closed, say @r_schmidtke. She rightly notes the ongoing pandemic of gender based violence in the region.

Women and girls are at the center of the crisis in Venezuela. Human rights violations are therefore a root cause and a consequence, says @womenslink's Selene Soto.

Migration does not create new problems; it exacerbates existing problems.

In 2016, Colombia's Supreme Court knocked down a part of a 2005 law that requires trafficking victims to report to the criminal system before accessing any aid as too burdensome on victims. While it has been de jure removed, de facto, it is still being asked of victims.

Very incisive, detailed commentary from @sotoselene on the risks for women and girls, particularly victims of trafficking, during the ongoing pandemic.

Two decades ago, @gimena_wola was conducting research in Latin America's border zones looking at an outflow of Colombian migration. The region has been, historically, an outflow region. Venezuelan flows have changed this.

Colombia still has 8 million internally displaced people. Many Venezuelans have ended up in the same areas where displaced people have gone. Both displacements must be simultaneously treated.

There has long been an implementation problem in Colombia's application of the law, but it is especially important in the context of trafficking to make sure victims are protected.

This thread is much, much hazier than the commentaries by the women speaking at this event. I really recommend tuning in and hearing from the advocates themselves: