Ukrainian delegation visits OSCE Secretariat and Austria’s Interior Ministry as part of project on combating human trafficking and smuggling of migrants

Representatives of Ukraine’s Ministry of Social Policy, the country’s Office of the Prosecutor General, the police and the State Service for Labour Issues visited the OSCE Secretariat and the Austrian Federal Ministry of the Interior on 7 and 8 May 2019 as part of an OSCE capacity-building project that aims to combat human trafficking and the smuggling of migrants.

The visit was organized by the Strategic Police Matters Unit of the OSCE’s Transnational Threats Department (SPMU).

On 7 May, the delegation met with the representatives of SPMU, the Office of the Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings and INTERPOL. They discussed the role and responsibilities of Labour Inspectorates and the need to provide specialized training in the interviewing of victims. The discussions also explored how to strengthen bilateral co-operation with other OSCE participating States to improve the exchange of information and better address transnational cases of human trafficking.

On 8 May, the delegation visited the Central Service for Combating Alien Smuggling and Trafficking in Human Beings of the Austrian Interior Ministry to learn about the Austrian institutional framework for combating human trafficking as well as about a special hotline run by the Ministry.

The project is supported with financial contributions from Austria, France, Norway, Slovakia and Switzerland.