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Report: 16 Dec 2008, International Workshop on Gender Issues in the Context of Combating Human Trafficking in Minsk, Belarus
Posted by admin (dpahtese) on 02/02/2009 at 17:55
News & Events >> IOM

One-day workshop on gender issues in the context of combating human trafficking was an integral part of the Regional Danish Programme implemented by IOM Minsk and BYWCA/La Strada Belarus.

23 participants form Belarus, Moldova, and Ukraine took part in the event. The workshop  focused on the results of “Gender in Trafficking” research conducted to investigate the gender component in the modern trafficking scheme and counter-trafficking efforts in Belarus as a country of origin. The desk research was carried out by PA BYWCA/La Strada Belarus subcontracted by IOM Minsk.

The workshop’s key objectives were:

• To introduce the results of the “Gender in Trafficking” research with a special focus on its main findings;

• To discuss both the relevant findings of the conducted research and key problem issues in the context of combating human trafficking as well as to present wide range of experiences of the workshop’s participants and their approaches to gender in certain countries and in the regional context, and   

• To develop joint recommendations on gender-responsive strategies in criminalization and prosecution of traffickers, conduction of preventive activities and provision of reintegration assistance to both male and female victims of trafficking.

The workshop was designed as an interactive and practically-focused event, which successfully combined various activities in order to create an effective platform to discuss the research results in close connection with present gender issues, share knowledge and experiences, and to develop common approach on preventing human trafficking, objectives.  These included interactive presentations with questions and answers, panel discussions, specialized mini-workshops, small  group discussions, presentations by groups and general discussions.

Main topics of the workshop covered the following issues:

• Combating trafficking in human beings in the Republic of Belarus;

• General principles on introducing gender approach to development of program activity based on UN guidelines;

• Goals and objectives of the research. Presentation of research results

• Assistance to male VoTs.

• Communication interactions in modern context of gender issues.

• Communication audit as a tool to analyze effectiveness of preventive products and communication strategies in the field of prevention of trafficking in human beings.

• How gender approach can be integrated into preventive activity:

The workshop participants agreed that it’s important to complete a final stage of the research validation and, after it, to start using the research and the jointly developed recommendations as the practical tools to implement gender-responsive strategies in criminalization and prosecution of traffickers, conduction of preventive activities and provision of reintegration assistance to both male and female VoTs.

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