IOM Minsk Organizes Study Trip to UK on National Referral Mechanism

On 14-16 July, the Belarusian delegation represented by IOM, IOM Rehabilitation Center Psychologist, hotline operator, members of multi-disciplinary groups in Vitebsk and Mogilev, among which there are representatives of law enforcement, Committee on Labor and Social Security, Red Cross, Prosecutors, participated in the study visit to London, UK to learn the experience of the British colleagues in the sphere of National Referral Mechanism (NRM), an identification and support mechanism for potential ??victims???? of trafficking found in the UK.

In this regard, the delegates met with numerous organizations – governmental agencies, international organizations and charities, among which are Home Office, National Crime Agency, UK Human Trafficking Centre, the Metropolitan Police Service, The Salvation Army International Development UK, NSPCC, Human Trafficking foundation, Croydon Community Against Trafficking, Migrant Help, etc.

Best practices in the field of NRM development and gaps for improvement were identified by the competent agencies and all stakeholders during the meetings will be taken into consideration when developing and strengthening the Belarusian National Referral Mechanism for victims of trafficking. Besides, British colleagues updated Belarusian delegates on latest changes into UK’s legislation, in particular the introduction of the Modern Slavery Act and NRM review that has become a ground for development of the pilot project for NRM functioning that is planned to start at the very end of July.

To sum it up, the study visit has become a platform for sharing best practices, information and statistics in the field of counter-trafficking, as well as info on national referral mechanism and effective ways of cooperation and coordination among all stakeholders involved in combating trafficking in persons.

The visit was organized by IOM Minsk within the framework of the technical international assistance project “Strengthening National Capacity of Republic of Belarus in Sphere of Combating Human Trafficking in Persons”, implemented jointly with the Ministry of the Interior, with the support of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).