Participants at a training session on human rights education and civic participation for Belarusian civil society representatives, Lviv, Ukraine, 9 July. (OSCE/Pavel Chacuk) 32 which are the areas in which these individuals and groups face the gravest challenges. Human Rights Training and Education ODIHR continues to work to promote human rights education and training through support for the formal and informal education efforts of both state and civil society institutions. This addresses the need to increase the level of human rights awareness among NGOs, teachers, students and relevant government organizations, as well as to develop values and behaviour that help uphold and defend human rights. Protecting Human Rights in the Fight against Terrorism Participating States have committed themselves to maintaining full respect for human rights, fundamental freedoms and the rule of law in activities to counter terrorism. However, the need to counter terrorism is sometimes used as a justification by authorities to exercise power without proper checks and balances, resulting in violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms. As participating States develop further initiatives to prevent terrorism, efforts to address the impact of different counter-terrorism approaches on their human rights commitments are particularly timely. Human Rights Human Rights and the Armed Forces Although the nature of military life and service implies certain limitations to rights and freedoms guaranteed in the commitments made by OSCE participating States, it is important to ensure that these limitations exist only where absolutely necessary is important. This area is particularly important for ODIHR given the broad divergence across the OSCE region in the degree to which the human rights and fundamental freedoms of service personnel are protected. Problems in this area are often the result of legislative and regulatory shortcomings or the absence of proper control mechanisms for the protection and enforcement of these rights. Trafficking in Human Beings Trafficking of human beings is a global problem that affects all states in the OSCE region, whether as countries of origin, transit or destination. Whereas participating States at one time focused almost exclusively on this form of exploitation in the area of trafficked persons in the sex industry, this focus has now broadened to include the growing problem of trafficking for labour exploitation. The need to battle trafficking and to ensure trafficked persons’ rights to justice and protection has become more acute, particularly in the context of the global economic crisis. ODIHR Annual Report 2009