In Vienna Belarus held a regular annual coordination meeting of the Group of Friends and the Inter-Agency Coordination Group on Combating Human Trafficking.

On December 5, in the Vienna International Center (Austria) was held a coordination meeting of a Group of Friends United in the Fight Against Human Trafficking with representatives of the secretariats of international organizations – members of the Inter-Agency Coordination Group on Combating Human Trafficking (ICAT), organized by the Permanent Mission of Belarus to international organizations in Vienna within the framework of the session of the UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice.

For almost two decades, Belarus has been actively contributing to strengthening international cooperation in combating human trafficking. The ICAT and the Group of Friends were established on the initiative of Belarus in 2006 and 2010, respectively.

The participants of the Group of Friends and representatives of other interested UN member States were informed about Belarus' activities at the UN as coordinator of the Group of Friends on Combating Human Trafficking in 2024, including in the context of the resolution “Combating human trafficking in conditions of rapid technological change” adopted on the initiative of Belarus (May 2024, Vienna, UN Commission on Crime Prevention).

During the meeting, representatives of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the International Organization for Migration, the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees, Interpol made presentations with information on the work of international organizations on the topic of combating human trafficking.

The meeting discussed promising areas of cooperation between the Group of Friends and the ICAT in 2025 in the context of new resolutions of international organizations on the topic of combating human trafficking, including the organization and holding of thematic events.

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