Empowering children at risk

Of the many forms of slavery thriving in the modern day, trafficking in children is perhaps the most tragic, destroying a childhood, with often life-long consequences.  The OSCE helps disadvantaged children in Moldova develop the life skills they need to resist attempts by potential traffickers to capitalize on their vulnerabilities. Ninety-four pupils of state boarding schools and 30 recent graduates have benefited since September 2011 from the support programme organized by the Office of the OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator on Trafficking in Human Beings with the OSCE Mission to Moldova and implemented by the Child Rights Information Centre (CRIC).  The project is funded by the participating States Monaco, Andorra, Liechtenstein and San Marino.

Other forms of human trafficking the OSCE is working to combat are labour exploitation, including domestic servitude, sexual exploitation and trafficking for the purpose of organ removal and for forced begging. Trafficking can occur in connection with major sports events, especially for labour and sexual exploitation.

The OSCE takes an interdisciplinary approach to human trafficking. It organized a conference on the connections between trafficking and money laundering in November 2011. Every year, it hosts the meeting of the Alliance on Human Trafficking, which it founded in 2004 and which now has over 40 member organizations.