Students from universities throughout Colombia will compete as part of the hackathon initiated by the United Nations and the IBM company in Bogotá, the capital of Colombia. In the hackathon, which will last about 32 hours, teams of developers and designers will be asked to build a prototype of a mobile or web application that will help eradicate the phenomenon of human trafficking of its various types - including the smuggling of women for the purpose of engaging in prostitution. The winners of the hackathon will be invited to sign an agreement with the United Nations, for continued funding and development of the application in order to operate it on a full scale
The United Nations and the IBM company are joining forces to open a unique hackathon in which students from universities in Colombia will compete to develop an application that will help eradicate the phenomenon of human trafficking. The development of the applications will be done with the help of IBM's infrastructure tools and technologies, including the use of artificial intelligence for voice recognition and facial recognition.
Students from universities throughout Colombia will compete as part of the hackathon initiated by the United Nations and the IBM company in Bogotá, the capital of Colombia. In the hackathon, which will last about 32 hours, teams of developers and designers will be asked to build a prototype of a mobile or web application that will help eradicate the phenomenon of human trafficking of its various types - including the smuggling of women for the purpose of engaging in prostitution. The winners of the hackathon will be invited to sign an agreement with the United Nations, for continued funding and development of the application in order to operate it on a full scale.
As part of the program, the developers will be asked to develop an application that will help deal with three challenges faced by the bodies fighting human trafficking: identifying victims who are transported between different places for sexual purposes; Improving coordination between the authorities when potential victims of human trafficking are identified at airports and central stations; and assistance in preventing the online distribution of pornographic materials that include the exploitation of minors for sexual purposes.
The continuous increase in the global use of the Internet and mobile phones has led to an increase in the number of young women and men who fall victim to human trafficking, where a third of these victims are children. Digital technology, and especially encrypted messaging services such as those of WhatsApp or Telegram, allow users to maintain complete anonymity. In doing so, they actually assist human traffickers in capturing new victims.
According to data from the anti-slavery activist group, Walk Free Foundation, about 131,000 victims of human trafficking currently live in Colombia or were born there and sent to other countries. UN reports state that throughout South America, women and girls are sold into prostitution, as the most common form of slavery and human trafficking. According to the estimates of the International Labor Agency of the United Nations, the human trafficking industry generates about 150 billion dollars a year.
