| dc.description.abstract | On 9-13 May 2016 I had the pleasure of paying an official visit to Turkey to hold consultations with high-level government officials, including the Director General of Consular Affairs, the Deputy General Director of Migration Management, the Deputy Chief of Directorate of Human Smuggling and Human Trafficking under the Turkish National Police, Deputy General Director of Labour, the First Vice President and Deputy Secretary General of the Cassation Court, the Ministry of Family and Social Policies’ Directorate General for Women Affairs and Directorate General for Assistance to Children, the Directorate General for Assistance to Children, the Ministry of Justice and the Governor of Gaziantep.
I also had fruitful discussions with civil society organizations and international and bilateral organizations accredited in Turkey. Furthermore, during the visit, I had the opportunity to visit shelters for trafficked persons and the Nizip 1-2 Temporary Protection Centres for Syrian Refugees in Gaziantep.
The objective of the visit was to promote the full implementation of OSCE commitments in the field of anti-trafficking and to propose action-oriented recommendations to better prevent and respond to human trafficking. I appreciate the constructive discussions held and I am pleased to have learnt about the implementation of some of my recommendations made during the visit.
I am particularly pleased to know that the Co-ordination Commission against Human Trafficking will convene its first meeting in February 2017 to speed up the revision of the 2009 National Action Plan to combat human trafficking. Furthermore, the Government plans to form sub-working groups to work with vulnerable groups and mobilize experts and academia to conduct an independent situation analysis and evaluation of the measures to combat human trafficking in the country. Finally, I acknowledge the efforts of the Cassation Court in publishing an analysis of Turkish jurisprudence on its website in both Turkish and English and for sharing its decisions with judges and prosecutors of the first instance courts in order to clarify the law and how THB is interpreted.
The Report was presented to the Delegation of Turkey for comments on 3 October 2016. The Delegation submitted its comments on 28 December 2016, which are annexed to this report in their entirety.
By encouraging relevant authorities to implement the recommendations made in this report and acting in the best interest of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged members of society, I look forward to further continuing our exchange and co-operation on the occasion of a follow-up to this report. | en_US |
