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Conference participants in Chelyabinsk’s Legislative Assembly

Larissa Vasilyeva, chair of the Chelyabinsk regional civic organization Women’s Fellowship, visited the United States in October 2006 as part of the Open World Program. During her stay in Washington, D.C., she served as a panelist at a public forum on trafficking sponsored by her Open World host organization, the Terrorism, Transnational Crime and Corruption Center at American University (TraCCC).

Upon her return, Vasilyeva and Women’s Fellowship decided to hold a three-day international conference on human trafficking.

On November 7–9, 2006, Women’s Fellowship welcomed anti-trafficking experts from around the world to Chelyabinsk. Attendees included
Claes Lundquist, project coordinator for an anti-trafficking program of the Swedish NGO Kvinnoforum
Ingela Hessius, district attorney of Stockholm
Azimat Imomov, deputy attorney-general of Tajikistan
Oleg Kuzbit, anti-trafficking project coordinator for the Angel Coalition.

The conference began with a plenary session held at Chelyabinsk State Teacher Training University, followed by a meeting with the city administration. The second day opened with a seminar on educating youth at local schools and colleges about trafficking. Also on the second day, Chelyabinsk’s Legislative Assembly reviewed international and domestic law related to human trafficking and discussed prospective changes in Russian legislation. The conference participants later held a press conference with local media to further promote their anti-trafficking message. On the final day of the conference, November 9, the conference attendees met with law students and faculty from South Ural State University to discuss legal issues related to human trafficking.

Kvuinnoforum and the Angel Coalition cosponsored the event with Women’s Fellowship.