OSCE helps train Kazakh law enforcement officials to investigate trafficking cases

KARAGANDA, Kazakhstan, 5 April 2007 - Twenty Kazakhstani law enforcement officials, including representatives of the Interior Ministry, the Office of the Prosecutor-General, the Border Guards and judiciary from different regions of the country are taking part in a training course on investigating cases of human trafficking.

The two-week programme, which ends on Friday, was organized by the OSCE Centre in Almaty and the Organization's Vienna-based Strategic Police Matters Unit. The course specifically focuses on techniques to investigate cases when the victim is not willing or not able to testify against the traffickers, for example for fear of retaliation.

"Trafficking is a modern form of slavery and one of the worst scourges of our times," said Ambassador Ivar Vikki, the Head of the OSCE Centre. "Improving the effectiveness of the fight against human trafficking while respecting the rights of the victim is the duty of all democratic countries, and an effort which can succeed only if co-ordinated internationally."

The course will be followed by a one-week "training for trainers" seminar for a selected group of officials from Kazakhstani law enforcement agencies.

The training course has also been offered in other OSCE participating States, including in Albania, Azerbaijan Georgia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Moldova and Serbia, and is now being brought to Central Asia.

The project is part of an anti-trafficking programme conducted by the OSCE Centre in Almaty in close co-ordination with the Kazakhstani Government.