For the first time, recommendations for journalists on covering the issue of human trafficking and related crimes have been developed in Belarus.

The document was elaborated by the journalists of the national and regional media and students of the Institute of Journalism of the Belarusian State University with participation of international experts from Ukraine during the training “Covering the Issue of Human Trafficking in the Media” organized in the framework of the EU–UNDP–UNICEF project “Preventing, Fighting and Addressing the Social Consequences of Trafficking in Human Beings in the Republic of Belarus”. Specialists of the Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the NGO “Belarusian Young Women Christian Association” also took part in the development of the recommendations.

Standards of covering trafficking in human beings in the media adopted by the leading broadcasting corporations of the United Kingdom, USA, France, and professional journalists’ associations in Ukraine, Russia, Armenia, and Moldova were taken as a basis forthe elaboration of the recommendations.

The recommendations include general norms and rules of covering the issue of human trafficking, conducting interviews with victims of trafficking and their relatives, and organising and conducting journalistic investigation when covering this topic.

As Ekaterina Dyatlova, Project Manager pointed out, “The recommendations have been developed based on the best international experience in this area and are intended to help Belarusian journalists to cover the issues related to human trafficking in a more professional way, with special attention being paid to observing ethical rules of working with victims of trafficking and their relatives.”

The recommendations are available on the project website www.trafik.by (in Russian).

Formore information, please contact Alexander Novikov, PR Specialist of the project, tel. (+375 17) 286 30 43, mobile: (+375 29) 671 88 91, e–mail: .

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