High-level meeting in Vienna on Friday on how to address human trafficking in conflict and crisis situations

How to address human trafficking in conflict and crisis situations, as well as in humanitarian settings will be the focus of a high-level conference taking place in Vienna on 20 October for representatives of governments, academia, private businesses, civil society and the media.

This year’s conference will be opened by Lamiya Aji Bashar, a Yazidi human rights activist and winner of the 2016 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.

With global crises increasingly complex and pervasive, the debate will focus on the intersections between human trafficking and conflict, large-scale migration, displacement and humanitarian emergencies exacerbating the vulnerabilities of individuals at risk of exploitation.

Two panels and four interactive workshops will provide a forum for international experts, practitioners from the field, academia, the media and civil society to exchange views, good practices and experiences in order to coordinate joint efforts and develop recommendations for how to respond to this heinous crime.

The conference takes place on the occasion of the European Union’s Anti-Trafficking Day and is organized by the Austrian Task Force on Combating Human Trafficking, under the Austrian OSCE Chairmanship and in co-operation with the OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, the Vienna Institute for International Dialogue and Cooperation (VIDC) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Also opening the conference will be:

Wolfgang Brandstetter, Vice-Chancellor, Federal Minister of Justice;
Pamela Rendi-Wagner, Federal Minister of Health and Women´s Affairs;
Florian Raunig, Head of Task Force for the 2017 Austrian OSCE Chairmanship;
Thomas Greminger, OSCE Secretary General;
Madina Jarbussynova, OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings;
Elisabeth Tichy-Fisslberger, Austrian National Co-ordinator on Combating Human Trafficking.

A full list of speakers and panellists is contained within the programme available at: www.osce.org/secretariat/346496

Original source: OSCE
Published on 17 October 2017