International Training Center for Migration and Combating Trafficking in Human Beings (ITC)

High-ranked officials participating in the ITC Opening Ceremony

International Training Center for Migration and Combating Trafficking in Human Beings (ITC) was opened on July 19, 2007 in Minsk. The establishment of the ITC came as a joint initiative of the Government of Belarus and International Organization for Migration.

The ITC was set up at the educational institution “The MoI Academy of the Republic of Belarus”, as a practical follow-up to a number of state’s initiatives, announced at the International Conference “Trafficking in Women and Girls: the Joint Answer to the Challenge”, organized at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, USA, on March 5, 2007.

The creation of the ITC was also supported by the “Minsk Recommendations for International Operational and Judicial Co-Operation in Combating Trafficking in Human Beings” adopted by the fourth annual International Law Enforcement (LE) Conference “International Perspectives on Law Enforcement Co-operation in Combating Trafficking in Human Beings” held between 10 – 12 April 2007 in Minsk, Republic of Belarus.

On July 16, 2007, the first 12-day training course for 10 LE officials from the CIS countries commenced. Since then IOM Minsk and the MoI of the Republic of Belarus have established a practice of organizing 12 and 6-days’ educational courses for personnel of the foreign LE agencies under the theme: «Combating trafficking in human beings: system analysis, international cooperation and best LE practices» for the benefit of more effective investigation of crimes in this field, and of enhancing the unified approach and better coordination of joint activities of LE when investigating crimes in the field of trafficking in human beings (THB).

The ITC has attracted a great deal of international interest both within and beyond the CIS States and the Centre was awarded official recognition as a CIS approved base institution for training, retraining and enhancing the qualifications of the personnel in the sphere of migration and human trafficking counteraction, on 23 of May 2008.

The Centre accumulates the best practices in this field and establishes the methodological basis for training the specialists of this type; it promotes constant exchange among the interested agencies in terms of statistics, various relevant data, new tendencies and approaches to solving the problem.

The trainings are conducted with the support of the Royal Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

For more information, please, visit http://academy.mia.by/index.php/ru/itc