Meeting of the Multi-Disciplinary Task Force

On the 9th of April, 2014 a meeting of the multi-disciplinary task force in Mogilev took place. The main responsibility of the task force is to identify, refer and provide assistance to VoTs in Mogilev oblast; to strengthen NRM in Mogilev oblast, to share experience, information and latest statistics in the field of combating and prevention of trafficking in human beings.

The meeting of the task force was chaired by the National Project Coordinator/Deputy chairperson of the Department/ Chairperson of the second unit on combating trafficking in drugs and human beings of the criminal militia of the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Belarus, Sergey KOLTUN and Coordinator of the International Technical Assistance Project “Building the capacity of the Republic of Belarus in the field of combating trafficking in human beings” – Natalia ZHAK. Meeting of the multi-disciplinary task force was organized with technical and organizational support of the Red Cross Organization. The meeting was attended by the representatives of all the agencies, which signed the MoU and other interested organizations, including: Department of the Interior Affairs, of labor and social welfare, education, health, of migration and citizenship, investigation committee, committee of state control, bar association, and Gomel oblast NGOs.

During the meeting all the representatives had an opportunity to share the latest information and statistics and to talk about the latest trends in the field of THB in Mogilev region, special attention was given to the issue of rendering assistance to victims of trafficking and to the issue of labor exploitation of Belarus citizens in Russia and their identification as VoTs.

In the course of the work of the task force it was decided:

• to more actively engage into sharing information and statistics between the interested parties of the MoU in the field of prevention of THB and provision of assistance to VoTs.
• to strengthen cooperation with the law enforcement agencies in the field of verification of information related to the Cases of labour exploitation;
• to adhere to the principles of confidentiality for all the information on trafficking cases and to observe the human rights and private security of VoTs;
• to introduce changes into the text of MoU, particularly, to add items about the New State Programme for 2013 – 2015; about Belarus joining the Council of Europe Convention on combating trafficking in human beings and the article about adhering to the principles of confidentiality when working with VoTs;
• to widen the list of the MoU participants with the representatives of the court, prosecutor`s office, committee of state control, investigation committee, department on citizenship and migration, Mogilev “Belarusian Children Foundation”.