Combating trafficking for labour exploitation focus of OSCE conference in Turkmenistan

ASHGABAT, 24 August 2010 - A conference on combating human trafficking for labour exploitation organized by the OSCE Centre jointly with the General Prosecutor's Office of Turkmenistan was held in Ashgabat today.

The one-day event brought together more than 45 representatives from state institutions, civil society, international organizations and embassies present in Turkmenistan. It focused on the challenges of combating human trafficking for labour exploitation and on sharing experiences and best practices.

Ambassador Arsim Zekolli, the Head of the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat, said: "Governments must adopt a multi-dimensional, co-ordinated and proactive approach to effectively combat human trafficking. Today's conference intends to be a step forward in sharing best practices and lessons learned within the OSCE area and aims to draw attention to the importance of both fighting this atrocious crime and ensuring that measures to protect and assist its victims are in place and fully functional."

At the conference, a representative from the Co-ordinating Council of Prosecutors General from the Commonwealth of Independent States spoke about the CIS Programme of co-operation to combat trafficking. A member of the National Inter-Agency Commission on Combating Human Trafficking of Uzbekistan and the Head of the Anti-Trafficking Unit at the General Prosecutor's Office of Moldova discussed specific cases of law enforcement investigations and prosecutions of human trafficking for labour exploitation in their respective countries. Speakers from Kazakhstan and Tajikistan also shared measures of preventing human trafficking for labour exploitation as well as best practices in providing assistance to and protecting trafficking victims.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime addressed the scale of trafficking for labour exploitation and screened a training film, Affected for Life, illustrating the different features and forms of human trafficking.

Vera Gracheva, Senior Adviser at the Vienna-based Office of the OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, said: "Trafficking in human beings for labour exploitation is spreading worldwide, often exceeding other severe forms of exploitation and reaching the level of modern slavery. This is why the conference is extremely important as it demonstrates the consolidated response of Turkmenistan's authorities and the international community to fight trafficking in human beings for labour exploitation in the OSCE region."

The conference was a follow-up to the high-level seminar organized by the OSCE Centre in August last year and is part of the Centre's initiatives aimed at assisting the host country in implementing its commitments related to combating trafficking in human beings.