KHOROG, September 28, 2010, Asia-Plus -- The project, Combating Trafficking in Persons in Central Asia, has been launched in Gorno Badakhshan.

The project is being implemented by the Khorog-based Civil Society Support Center, Kalam, under financial support of the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and the International Organization for Migration’s (IOM) Mission in Tajikistan.

The Kalam head Buribek Buribekov says the main objective of the project is in conducting counter trafficking seminars and meetings for the target at-risk groups and population as a whole in the city of Khorog as well as Shugnan and Rushan districts.

A special attention will be paid to work with the at-risk groups – senior school students, students at special and higher educational institutions, unemployed youth.  The project also includes events to reveal victims of trafficking and provide legal and social aid to them.

As part of information campaign, Kalam in partnership with interested organizations will also distribute IOM-prepared background materials on trafficking risk to labor migrants, Buribekov noted.

“Besides, we will publish materials about labor migration in our newspaper Impulse and other local publications as far as possible,” said the Kalam head, “We will also organize programs on the labor migration problems on local TV and radio stations.”

The project also stipulates holding of training seminars and roundtable meetings with participation of representatives from relevant government bodies and public associations.