OSCE holds training on stopping human trafficking among Roma community

TIRANA, Sept. 18 – The same day the Council of Europe was holding a seminar on Roma community in Tirana, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) launched a three-day training aims to promote partnerships aiming to promote partnership between anti-trafficking and Roma non-governmental organizations to better fight the increasing phenomenon of trafficking in Roma across Europe. “Roma are often stereotyped as being traffickers and not victims of trafficking, even within organizations dealing with trafficking issues. This meeting aims to break down such prejudices and to raise awareness of trafficking within Roma communities,” said Shivaun Scanlan, Senior Adviser on Anti-Trafficking to the ODIHR. Some 60 participants from countries including France, Italy, Greece, Spain, Albania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia, Moldova, Serbia take part in the meeting. “I hope the regional expert meeting will help involve Roma and their organizations more closely in combating trafficking in human beings within their own communities,” said Ambassador Pavel Vacek, head of the Presence. “The OSCE Presence in Albania will continue to support the national efforts against human trafficking with a focus on Roma as a particularly vulnerable group.”