2015

OSCE Special Representative promotes sustainable assistance to children without parental care in Eastern Europe

MINSK, 3 April 2015 – Preparing children to live independently after they leave state-run boarding schools is a key step in combating human trafficking in minors,”  said on Friday OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, Ambassador Madina Jarbussynova.

“Teaching life skills is something that we have stressed in our ongoing project for children without parental care,” Jarbussynova added. “It provides them with the tools, as well as the necessary self-confidence, to contribute to their societies as working adults.”

The Special Representative made the remarks at the conclusion of a two-day roundtable with leading experts from Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus who gathered in Minsk to exchange good practices and share their expertise. Social workers, government officials and NGO representatives form a core group of experts that will join together to find solutions to combat child trafficking in the region.

The meeting was also an opportunity to build on the OSCE’s experience in working with children in Moldova. Since 2011, the Organization, in partnerships with local NGOs and Moldova’s Education Ministry and Ministry of Labour, Social Protection and Family, has implemented a programme to teach crucial life and professional skills to children without parental care on both sides of the Dniester/Nistru River.

“I would like to thank our generous donors and everyone who has worked with us on the Moldova project, as well as the experts who attended the roundtable,” said Jarbussynova. “This has been an important step in creating a sustainable mechanism that will allow institutions to empower experts with the training skills needed to assist children at risk of becoming trafficking victims.”

Participants at the roundtable included Margarita Matveenko, head of the Education Ministry’s child welfare department, Nataliya Fedorovych, director of Ukraine’s Department for Family and Gender Policy and Combating Trafficking in Human Beings and Ecaterina Berejan, head of Moldova’s permanent secretariat of the national committee for combating trafficking in human beings.

The event received financial support from Andorra, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco and San Marino.