To combat the activities of human trafficking, the Human Trafficking Deterrent Measures Concern Committee organizes the “Workshop on Combating Human Trafficking” from October 7 to 8 in World Trade Center Macau. Expert trainers from the United States Department of Justice, and also from the U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement, who are both very experienced dealing with human trafficking cases, are invited to share with the participants their experience in combating trafficking in persons. Participants are from different areas including Macao Customs, Public Security Police and Judiciary Police.

Over the past year, the Macao government has devoted a lot of effort in fighting against human trafficking, in areas including prevention, victim protection and prosecution. The anti human trafficking law has come effective since June 2008, in which the applicable area of human trafficking crimes has been enlarged, and the penalty of committing such crimes has also been increased. Given such solid foundation, the work on combating trafficking in persons is largely facilitated.

Training for frontline officers is an important focus of the Macao Government. Everyday at work they encounter people who may be potential human trafficking victims, or human traffickers. Looking more into the techniques of identifying victims, investigation and prosecution of such cases can certainly help strengthen the effort in combating human trafficking.