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Home Events Prioritizing the Needs of Young Survivors: Children and Teens in Focus
Events

Prioritizing the Needs of Young Survivors: Children and Teens in Focus

When

1 April 2025, 09:00 - 09:55

Where

In person at Hofburg, Vienna and online via Zoom

Organized by

International Survivors of Trafficking Advisory Council (ISTAC), OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR)

In the margins of the 25th Conference of the Alliance against Trafficking in Persons, the side event “Prioritizing the Needs of Young Survivors: Children and Teens in Focus” will aim to highlight the needs of young survivors of trafficking and explore sustainable strategies to protect them effectively, empower them and facilitate their recovery and reintegration.

Background

By amplifying young survivors’ voices and expertise, the event inspires actionable commitments from practitioners, policymakers, and other stakeholders to ensure a holistic, sustainable response that protects and uplifts the youngest and most vulnerable victims of trafficking. Young survivors face unique vulnerabilities, including the lasting impact of trauma on their physical, emotional, and psychological development. Many lack access to tailored support systems that facilitate recovery and reintegration. A child-centered, age-appropriate, and trauma-informed approach is essential to addressing these challenges, ensuring that young survivors are not only protected but also empowered to rebuild their lives. It is also essential to actively listen to survivors of child trafficking and engage them ethically and meaningfully in policymaking and anti-trafficking interventions to ensure these efforts are truly responsive and tailored to their specific needs.

The commitments of OSCE participating States to protect child victims of trafficking are outlined in the 2003 OSCE Action Plan to Combat Trafficking in Human Beings and its 2005 and 2013 Addenda. These commitments, alongside successive Ministerial Council Decisions, including MC Decision No. 13/04 (Sofia), No. 15/06 (Brussels), No. 9/07 (Madrid), No. 7/13 (Kyiv), No. 7/17 (Vienna) and No. 6/18 (Milan), call on participating States to – among others - prioritize and strengthen the promotion of child victims’ and survivors’ rights.

Agenda

Introductory remarks

  • Jeanne Celestine Lakin, Chair, ISTAC
  • Dr. Tea Jaliashvili, First Deputy Director, OSCE/ODIHR
  • Dr. Kari Johnstone, OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings

Interactive discussion

  • Jane Lasonder, Vice-Chair, ISTAC
  • Eva Veldhuizen Ochodničanová, Child Protection Specialist, KIND

Short Q&A session

  • Maria Kirdan, ISTAC member
  • Silke Albert, Team Leader, Child Trafficking, Survivor Engagement and Partnerships, UNODC (On behalf of the ICAT Co-chairs)
  • Katerina Stephanou, CEO, Step Up Stop Slavery

Short Q&A session

Moderator: Itohan Okundaye, ISTAC Member

Join us online

You can join us online via Zoom here. 
// Meeting passcode: 82124149