Baku - With USAID funding, IOM supports the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of Population, Victim Assistance Centre to reach out to communities, national authorities and civil society partners outside of Baku to facilitate potential/victims of trafficking access to services. To this end, VAC organized a cycle of seminars titled “Ethical treatment of victims of human trafficking: guide for health providers” in five regions (Jalilabad, Siyazan, Saatli, Shaki and Imishli) in November and December.

The Seminars were held for the total of 146 (14 men and 132 women) health workers of Central Hospitals in the mentioned regions. The need for awareness raising was identified during the referrals of victims by VAC to health centres since ethical treatment rules towards victims of human trafficking were broken, and victims were neglected and asked questions that violated their human dignity. In this regard, these information sessions served to increase health providers’ knowledge on ethical treatment guides and rules towards victims of human trafficking as well as legal responsibility for violation of confidentiality.