Building capacity of the mass-media and NGOs to cover counter-trafficking issues in local mass media
20 September 2019
IOM International Organization for Migration/ the UN Migration Agency with the support of the British Embassy in Ashgabat conducted a national workshop for the journalists that helped to increase the capacity of media representatives to cover issues of migration, counter-trafficking, and strengthen their ability to raise awareness of migrants’ rights, risks associated with migration and give precautions to be taken throughout the entire process of migration.
In his opening remarks David Pert, Deputy Head of the British Embassy noted, that the Embassy is pleased to be able to support IOM in implementing such a workshop for the mass media representatives and NGOs in combating human trafficking through prevention measures.
Addressing the participants of the workshop Azat Atajanov, the Head of IOM Turkmenistan acknowledged the importance of close cooperation with the Government Turkmenistan on the implementation of the next National Action Plan on Counter-trafficking on 2020-2022 that will include among other areas work with the national mass media and journalists. For this event IOM invited two international experts, a family couple from Belarus: Vitaut and Lana Rudnik to facilitate the training, as well as brought together representatives from the civil society working directly with vulnerable migrants and representatives of the media: national newspapers and journals, TV and radio channels, digital news agencies and young journalists from the local universities.
“Human trafficking is an important issue that needs to be addressed in a coordinated manner. Indeed, misinformation or unawareness of this phenomenon led the victims to fall into the hands of human traffickers. And mass media plays a key role in the spread of information and educating the general population about the notion of human trafficking for them to be well equipped and alerted while facing with migration issues”,- stressed Vitaut Rudnik, IOM international expert.
The program of the workshop was based on theoretical and practical learnings of global human rights activism in the context of organizing information awareness-raising campaigns to prevent and combat irregular migration and human trafficking. This workshop provided an opportunity for in-depth discussion and introspection on the role and responsibilities of journalists and media professional and the importance of coherent work of all the actors. The joint group work allowed the senior and young journalists gain a deeper understanding of key problems and challenges in the field of migration.
At the same time, NGOs acknowledged the importance of cooperation with journalists in the common aim of preventive measures to combat human trafficking.
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