OSCE concludes series of anti-trafficking seminars for law-enforcement officers and social workers in Kazakhstan
The OSCE Programme Office in Astana held the last in a series of five seminars on anti-trafficking practices and procedures on 6 October 2016 in Shymkent, South Kazakhstan Region.
The series took place in the cities of Almaty, Astana, Karaganda, Kostanay and Shymkent, targeting some 180 law-enforcement officers and social workers. Representatives of the Akimat (regional administration) and Prosecutor General’s Office also attended.
The series was co-organized in co-operation with the Health Care and Social Development and Interior ministries and the US Embassy in Kazakhstan.
The seminars focused on national and international standards for assisting victims of human trafficking, social isolation and discomfort as trafficking supplying factors, issues of integration and rehabilitation and compensation for damages.
"The scope of trafficking also includes criminal offenses such as trafficking in minors involved in prostitution, kidnapping and unlawful deprivation of liberty,” said Zhangali Kenbayev, Head of the Centre for Training Specialists in Combating Illegal Migration and Trafficking of the Karaganda Barimbek Beisenov Police Academy. “Every year, some 300 cases are filed to pursue justice against crimes of human trafficking."
“Trafficking in human beings is a complex phenomenon, and properly addressing it requires multiple competences,” said Sara Bonotti, Human Dimension Officer at the OSCE Programme Office in Astana. “These seminars, by targeting both law-enforcement officers and social workers, aim to address different needs of the victims, from access to justice to appropriate investigation to psychological and material support”.
The series is part of the OSCE Programme Office’s long-standing engagement in awareness-raising and capacity-building of law-enforcement institutions and civil society in combating trafficking in human beings in line with the host country’s commitments under international treaties.