China - A two-day workshop on international standards for identifying and assisting victims of trafficking took place in Nanning, China, this week. It targeted Chinese police officers and officials and was organized by IOM, the UN Migration Agency under the framework of its European Union-funded EU-China Dialogue on Migration and Mobility Support Project.

The workshop, which followed a similar training in Nanjing in November 2016, was attended by approximately 85 Chinese police officers and provincial officials from the Ministry of Public Security and other ministries.

The training aimed to enhance the capacity of Chinese officials to identify, protect and assist victims of trafficking and to further strengthen working-level cooperation between EU and Chinese counter-trafficking stakeholders.

Topics addressed included the international legal frameworks on counter-trafficking; the principles, guidelines and screening tools for the identification of trafficked victims; and Chinese and European perspectives on protection and assistance to victims.

The trainers included experts from EUROPOL and EU Member States (Belgium, Cyprus, Italy, the Netherlands and Sweden) and IOM in China.

Nicole Voorhuis, a Senior Public Prosecutor from the Netherlands and one of the trainers, highlighted the importance of this kind of international cooperation in combating trafficking, “Human trafficking is a complex crime that is both domestic and transnational in character. Consequently we need international cooperation to tackle it as we are stronger, smarter, and have greater capacity when we work together,” she said.

The workshop also provided an opportunity for participants to discuss case studies and international best practices in the identification of victims, protection, direct assistance and the management of shelters.

For further information, please contact Etienne Micallef at the IOM Liaison Office to China, Tel: + 86 138 1120 9875   Email: emicallef@iom.int