Secretariat - Office of the Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings

ROME, 5 February 2013 – The OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, Maria Grazia Giammarinaro, will hold a high-level seminar on preventing trafficking in human beings in the Mediterranean region on 8 February in Rome.

The seminar will examine the phenomenon of human trafficking from the southern Mediterranean to Europe in the aftermath of the Arab Spring, focusing on labour exploitation of migrants. It will be opened by the Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi, the OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier and the President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Hon. Riccardo Migliori, and will bring together more than 100 governmental and non- governmental representatives from Mediterranean countries including Algeria, France, Greece, Israel, Jordan, Malta, Portugal, Spain, Tunisia, as well as the European Union. 

Migrants are often forced to live and work in inhuman conditions in return for no or little remuneration. They are subject to various forms of physical and psychological violence, which may even amount to torture or cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. Their documents are confiscated, threats are made to report them to the authorities for deportation, and they are increasingly subjugated via debt bondage.

Journalists are invited to attend a press briefing with OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, Maria Grazia Giammarinaro and key officials at 09.45 in the Palazzo Montecitorio at Piazza di Montecitorio in Rome on 8 February 2013.

For further details on accreditation, please contact Alfred Kueppers, Public Information Officer, Office of the OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, at +43-1-51436-6664, +43 (0) 664 8847 4867 (mobile), alfred.kueppers@osce.org. Accreditation requests can be submitted to the Press Office of the Italian Chamber of Deputies by fax (+39 06 6783 082) or by email (sg_ufficiostampa@camera.it).