Fight against Trafficking in Human Beings
The Ethical Journalism Network’s Aidan White presented new guidelines on how to report on human trafficking at an ICMPD event in Turkey.
Transnational Closing Workshop of the Project: Achievements and Future Prospects
5-6 December 2017 | Istanbul, Turkey
To tackle the challenge of trafficking in human beings, the European Union, under its Instrument for Stability funded a pilot project Fight against Trafficking in Human Beings – Phase 1 (THB/IFS/1), focused on fighting organised crime and trafficking in human beings in Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova and The first phase of the project was implemented from January 2013 – September 2014 by a consortium led by ICMPD in partnership with FIIAPP and FEI. The projects aimed to strengthen institutional responses to human trafficking and organised crime by promoting and assisting information sharing and regional coordination on trafficking in human beings and enhancing national, regional and trans-regional law enforcement cooperation. Phase 2 of the project built on the activities undertaken during Phase 1 and in addition to Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova and Turkey, also included Albania and Pakistan. Phase 2 is finishing in January 2018 following 40 months of implementation.
The project contributed to the prevention of and fight against transnational organised crime, particularly in relation to trafficking in human beings (THB), by providing the participating countries with policy, legal and technical expertise. Specifically, the project improved victim identification, protection and assistance by strengthening national and transnational referral mechanisms; increased prosecutions of traffickers by enhancing national and transnational law enforcement cooperation and increasing the capacities of law enforcement, judiciary and NGOs staff to address and fight THB more efficiently; and enhanced coordination and cooperation among key actors by improving partnerships between relevant EU and non-EU actors. More information about activities, assessments and guidelines produced in each country are available at fightagainsttrafficking.org.
This closing workshop provides an opportunity to gain an insight into the latest developments and trends relating to trafficking in human beings in the six beneficiary countries. It will also serve as an opportunity to review the international developments in the two classical debates in the anti-THB discourse – the law enforcement’s and judiciary’s response to THB as well as identification, referral and assistance to THB victims.
Additional focus will be on the issue of mass media’s role in shaping public’s awareness and understanding of THB and related phenomena such as irregular migration and refugee plight. This session picks up from an international workshop organised by ICMPD on 17 May 2017 in Vienna that generated great interest from the beneficiary countries, leading ICMPD to develop further its work with the journalists, for instance, in Pakistan. Finally, the workshop will also offer the participants a unique insight into ICMPD’s know-how on the THB and related phenomena as they are occurring along the migration routes.
The work will take place in plenary panel sessions – a dialogue between the panel experts and a moderator followed by discussions in the panel and with the audience (while there would be no formal speeches or presentations, rather an open debate and interaction instead) and in in-conversation sessions (direct discussions between the experts and country delegations in an informal atmosphere).