Protecting victims of human trafficking focus of OSCE-supported course in Turkmenistan

ASHGABAT, 18 December 2012 – Criminal-justice officials and members of the judiciary met at an OSCE-supported course in Ashgabat that concluded today to discuss protection of victims of human trafficking through a national referral mechanism.

Organized by the Centre in Ashgabat, in co-operation 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 28 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, as well as instructors from the Interior Ministry’s S.A. Niyazov Institute.

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

Mariana Katzarova, ODIHR Senior Advisor on Anti-Trafficking Issues, who moderated the course, added that “reinforcing commitments on protection of the rights of trafficked persons undertaken by OSCE participating States also requires functioning national referral mechanisms”.

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 co-operation.

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