The FINANCIAL -- The OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings Maria Grazia Giammarinaro met prominent Russian journalists in MOSCOW to discuss the role of the media in the fight against human trafficking in the OSCE region.

The meeting was organized by the Russian Union of Journalists in co-operation with the Office of the Special Representative.

The Office of the Special Representative and the Russian Union of Journalists will soon launch a new project aimed at establishing a special course on “Trafficking in Human Beings: the Global Perspective and the Role of the Media” for students and postgraduates of the MOSCOW State University’s Faculty of Journalism.

The meeting, which took place at the MOSCOW Central House of Journalists, was attended by representatives of TV channels, including VGTRK , Russia Today and MIR; radio station Ekho Moskvy; dailies Komsomolskaya Pravda, Delovoy Vtornik and newspapers from MOSCOW oblast; news agencies Interfax, RIA Novosti, ITAR-TASS and the Agency of Social Information; and quarterly magazine Mir i Soglasije. Participants also included representatives of the Federal Migration Service, the State Duma, IOM MOSCOW , UNHCR and the International Association of Journalists.

The discussion will continue tomorrow at the MOSCOW State University’s Faculty of Journalism, at an international roundtable event on journalistic investigations and the role of journalists in the fight against human trafficking as a transnational threat and gross human rights violation.

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