OSCE trains social workers in Kazakhstan on assisting human trafficking victims

The OSCE Programme Office in Astana supported a training seminar in Almaty, Kazakhstan on 5 November 2015 for social workers on providing care for victims of human trafficking.

Some 50 social workers and representatives from the Health Care and Social Development Ministry and civil society organizations active in assisting human trafficking victims learned about new procedures and practices available to help safeguard victims in a standardized and consistent manner.

The seminar is a follow-up to a series of inter-ministerial working group meetings supported by the Office that focused on developing standards of special social services for trafficking victims in line with the current legislation.

The social standard, which comes into force in January 2016, outlines the requirements for the conditions and procedures to be followed by state and non-governmental organizations in providing social services to victims, including temporary shelter.

The event is part of the Office’s multi-year efforts to raise awareness and build the capacity of state institutions and civil sector in the field of anti-trafficking in accordance with the host country’s obligations under ratified international treaties. It was organized in accordance with the OSCE Action Plan to Combat Trafficking in Human Beings.