Kabul, Afghanistan: ICMPD convened a National Workshop on “Mapping of statistics and data exchange on human trafficking, migrant smuggling and irregular migration in Afghanistan” co-chaired by the Secretariat of the Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Technical Committee of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. The workshop kicked-off the development process of national inter-agency guidelines in improving data exchange on irregular migration, human trafficking and migrant smuggling.

The TIP Technical Committee is a key coordinating body of the Afghan Government when it comes to the question of countering trafficking in human beings. The Technical Committee includes representatives from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Justice, Interior, Labour and Social Affairs, Refugees and Repatriation, Women, Education, Public Health, Hajj and Religious Affairs, the Supreme Court, the Attorney General’s Office, representatives from the civil society and others. Over 20 representatives from these bodies participated in the intensive 2-day programme of the workshop facilitated by national and international experts and the project team.

The event was organised in the framework of the RELEC initiative of the EU-funded project “Improving Migration Management in the Silk Routes countries”. The objective of the RELEC initiative is to support the TIP Technical Committee in improving statistical and data exchange on irregular migration, human trafficking and migrant smuggling within relevant law enforcement entities as well as to support international data exchange and cooperation in this field.