Brest, a sun-drenched conference hall, from which enthusiastic discussions can be heard even in the corridor. Here are 20 educational psychologists from different parts of the Brest region talking about their favourite topic – how to work with children and protect them from dangers.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) together with the Ministry of Education of Belarus conducts training on the issue of sexual exploitation of children with an emphasis on cyberspace. Participants study how to identify victims, how to help them and which organizations to refer them to.

Sexual exploitation of children is an awful reality faced by families across the country. Unfortunately, this problem is becoming more and more urgent, especially in the online space, where it is so difficult to keep track of what children are doing. The increase in this crime is also associated with the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, as children started to spend more time on the Internet, while criminals use the global network to recruit children.

According to the statistics of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus, only in 8 months of 2023, 353 victims of human trafficking were identified in Belarus, 256 of whom were children. IOM specialists note similar trends in their work. Over the past two years, 45% of all victims of human trafficking assisted by IOM were children. For comparison, in 2019, there were 17% of children among all victims.
The topic is not only important but also sensitive. It needs to be approached with the utmost seriousness and attention. Teachers understand this well.

“A lot of your inner resources are needed to study such topics and work with children affected by this crime", share one of the participants.

Educational psychologists in schools and social centres are one of the main specialists who are entrusted with the issue of identifying victims and providing them with timely and effective assistance. It is important for a specialist to build a trusting relationship with a child, to be able to listen to them, to know the main signs of sexual exploitation, and also to understand how to proceed in order to reduce the negative consequences for the child.

During the training, the participants got acquainted with the legislation in the field of human trafficking, learned about the relevance of this problem in Belarus and, in particular, in Brest region, as well as about the complex cases faced by law enforcement agencies. Educational psychologists learned how to recognize an affected child and how to communicate with them, and also tried on the roles of both the victim and the psychologist working with them.

"The most important points in identifying victims and providing assistance to them were defined at the training. We got interested in this topic and now the task is to study this issue further", noted the participant.

In addition to knowledge, the training participants acquired valuable acquaintances with colleagues, as well as representatives of law enforcement agencies of the region, with whom they will be able to cooperate to identify cases of sexual exploitation.

The event in Brest is the first one out of a series of such trainings that will be held in all regional centres of Belarus in the next two months. As a result, educational psychologists across the country will be more aware of the problem of sexual exploitation and will be on the alert.