Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

The OSCE has conducted a workshop on combating human trafficking in Turkmenistan's capital, the OSCE's Ashgabat office said on Saturday. Criminal-justice officials and members of the judiciary met to discuss protection of victims of human trafficking through a national referral mechanism.

Organized by the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat, in cooperation with the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the Office of Prosecutor-General of Turkmenistan, the two-day event brought together participants including representatives of the Prosecutor-General's Office, the Interior Ministry, the Supreme Court, the State Migration Service, the State Border Service, the National Security Ministry and the Bar Association.

"Human trafficking represents a human rights violation on a massive scale. Victims need and are entitled to protection, the sort of protection that they can get through an effective national referral mechanism," Begona Pineiro Costas, Human Dimension Officer at the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat, said.

"Reinforcing commitments on protection of the rights of trafficked persons undertaken by OSCE participating states also requires functioning national referral mechanisms," Mariana Katzarova, ODIHR Senior Advisor on Anti-Trafficking Issues, who moderated the course, said.

The course focused on the tools outlined in ODIHR's handbook on national referral mechanisms, including victim identification and referral for assistance; principles and methods for interviewing trafficked and vulnerable individuals, including child victims; the duty to conduct an effective investigation; the role of criminal-justice officials in protecting victims and witnesses and the need for institutional cooperation.

"Close collaboration between law enforcement and civil society is essential to the fight against trafficking," Colonel Gerald Tatzgern, Head of the Anti-Trafficking Unit at the Criminal Intelligence Service in Austria, said. "A trafficking victim who is given appropriate assistance and protection through such a joint effort is more likely to cooperate with an investigation."

The OSCE center in Ashgabat holds such trainings and conferences in Turkmenistan to raise awareness about human trafficking and to share international experience.

The previous conferences were dedicated to ways of preventing human trafficking and promoting safe migration, combating human trafficking for labor exploitation, preventing the trafficking of persons with disabilities, etc.

The OSCE Centre in Ashgabat, which began its work in January 1999, is implementing projects to assist in the implementation of legal reforms in line with international standards.