OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine trains anti-trafficking hotlines operators

KYIV, 19 June 2007 - Helping anti-trafficking telephone hotlines improve their service is the purpose of a training seminar organized by the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine.

Twenty hotline operators from anti-trafficking NGOs are participating in the two-day event which began today.

"This training seminar helps us do our work better, benefiting those who risk falling victim to trafficking or those who have suffered in traffickers' hands," said Natalya Kozlova, the Head of the Vinnytsya-based NGO Progressive Women, which has operated a hotline since April 2004.

The seminar focuses on new trends in human trafficking and effective telephone counselling. Participants will discuss techniques with specialists from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Germany, Israel, Italy and Russia. This course will help local hotline operators from seven regions of Ukraine to improve the services they provide to members of local communities, in particular those who are going abroad for work, study or marriage, advising on how to protect themselves from falling into a traffickers' trap.

Telephone hotlines are important to prevent human trafficking as well as to identify and help victims. The OSCE Project Co-ordinator has been supporting a network of Ukrainian NGOs that operate anti-trafficking hotlines since 2000.