A UN training manual to help police around the world combat the scourge of human trafficking is being developed with the assistance of the RCMP.

The UN estimates that more than 700,000 people a year, mostly women and children, are victims of the crime.

The police manual will help teach officers in 192 countries how to identify and interview victims of human trafficking, and how to protect them.

RCMP Cpl. Norm Massie, who was recently in Vienna to work on the project, said Canada has won praise for its protection of victims of human trafficking, an approach that includes consultation with communities working with victims.

"Partnerships with non-governmental agencies are absolutely key. Faith-based groups throughout the country have come together and are each able to provide a certain facet of what is required for that victim to recover from the trauma that they've experienced."

Members of such NGOs applaud the idea of more training for police, who are often the first to encounter victims of human trafficking working in prostitution.

Michelle Miller, executive director of Resist Exploitation, Embrace Dignity, a group that works with human trafficking victims in Vancouver, said she was unaware of the police manual under development.

"It disturbs me that I'm an NGO, on the ground, that works with women, and know nothing about this manual that's he's developing."

Groups who work with human trafficking victims, she said, would make sure that victims' rights were explained in the teaching tool.

Three years ago an assault at a Vancouver massage parlour led to the first human trafficking charges to be laid in Canada. The final arguments in the case will be heard in court today.