OSCE concludes training seminars on caring for trafficking victims in Kazakhstan

The OSCE Programme Office in Astana supported the last in a series of four training seminar for social workers on proper care and social services for victims of human trafficking on 27 November 2015 in Astana, Kazakhstan.

In total, some 130 social workers, officials from regional administrations and the Health Care and Social Development Ministry and representatives of non-governmental organizations engaged in providing social services to victims of human trafficking in Astana, Almaty, Kostanay and Shymkent were acquainted with the newly-adopted standards of relevant services.

The standards, which will enter into force in January 2016, detail practices and procedures that state and non-governmental organizations should observe when offering assistance to victims, including temporary shelter.

Experts and participants reviewed the human rights implications and transnational aspects of human trafficking, conditions for the admission and identification of victims as well as the minimum standards of care and services to be provided to victims. The training also included some practical exercises and simulations to help social workers better understand the victims’ specific needs and how to take them into account.

The social services standards have been developed this year by the inter-department working group supported by the OSCE Programme Office. The document was drafted in accordance with current national legislation and in line with the OSCE Action Plan to Combat Trafficking in Human Beings.

The seminars were held as part of the Office’s long-standing efforts to engage public institutions and the civil sector in anti-trafficking activities according to commitments made by the host country under international treaties on countering human trafficking.