Furthermore, on 17-20 September, the PCUz, jointly with the Uzbek Ministry of Foreign Affairs, carried out a capacity building and awareness raising event to increase the skills of the diplomatic and consular personnel of the Ministry and of diplomatic missions of destination countries accredited in Uzbekistan, in identifying victims of human trafficking and referring them for assistance. The second priority of the PCUz was to work with the national Federation of Trade Unions and with women’s rights NGOs on preventing human trafficking by empowering at-risk groups. On 22 October, the Civic Initiatives Support Centre, supported by the PCUz, opened a hotline and provided psychological and legal counselling for vulnerable groups in one of the biggest districts of Tashkent city. Drug Trafficking From 1-3 February, the PCUz organized a workshop in Tashkent for regional experts from Uzbekistan’s National Information and Analytical Centre on Drug Circulation. The workshop brought together 14 experts in charge of implementing a country-wide programme in controlling illegal drugs, from all provinces of Uzbekistan. Participants learned about the latest national regulations and respective government agencies’ preventive measures supporting the fight against the illicit trafficking of drugs and chemical precursors. The workshop was organized as part of a larger co-operation project between the PCUz and the National Information and Analytical Centre on Drug Circulation. Two more of these kinds of workshops were organized by the PCUz on 16-17 April in Urgench city and on 24-25 May in Termez city for some 52 experts from two provinces and all districts of the Surkhandarya region, respectively. In addition to experts in charge of implementing the country-wide programme in controlling illegal drugs, the Termez workshop also included representatives from local law enforcement agencies, narcotics medical facilities, and the regional administration. The PCUz, in co-ordination with the National Centre on Drug Control under the Cabinet of Ministers, also completed the annual Information Bulletin on the Drug Situation in Central Asia. The Bulletin reports on the 2011 state of affairs and trends of drug trafficking and drug consumption, as well as drug-related crimes in Central Asia, and also highlights measures taken by the governments of the Central Asian countries in order to combat the expansion of international trafficking in narcotics. The Bulletin was published within the framework of the PCUz project “Assistance to the Fight against Illicit Drug Circulation and Expansion” and distributed among different organizations and agencies in Uzbekistan and abroad. 144