BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION
Although questions of trafficking in human beings, smuggling and illegal migration have moved higher on the agenda of countries of South-eastern Europe, practical measures in terms of creating reliable law enforcement systems, harmonising legislation and investigative approaches and police cooperation remain insufficient to cope with these challenges.
In spite of a great number of training activities carried out in the region over the past years, within the framework of bilateral and international technical cooperation, a comprehensive set of curricula, adapted to the EU acquis, standards and policies in the field of trafficking, smuggling and illegal migration, is yet not available.
Often, existing national curricula are outdated and do not reflect current needs and European and other international standards.
The aim of the project is to provide the curricula which will provide a coherent, comprehensive, updated and uniform information of the best quality according to the EU and international standards, which could be subsequently adapted to into the regular national educational programmes, while respecting specific needs and requirements of every particular country. The curricula will take fully into account the following list of European and international law and conventions:
§ United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime of December 2000
§ Palermo UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons and the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air
§ Palermo Protocol (2002) to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, supplementing the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime
§ Council of Europe Recommendation 11 (2000) on trafficking in human beings for the purpose of sexual exploitation and Recommendation 1545 (2002) concerning campaigns against trafficking in women
§ Conclusions of the Tampere, Copenhagen, Seville and Thessaloniki European Council
§ Conclusions of the Syracuse Conference of December 2002 aiming to raise awareness of the issue of trafficking, particularly with regard to women
§ Conclusions of the Council (JHA) meeting with the candidate countries of 28 September 2001 which agreed on 12 measures to combat trafficking, among them active operational cooperation, organisation of information campaigns and providing assistance to victims
§ EU Council Framework Decision 2002/629/JHA of 19 July 2002 on combating trafficking in human being
§ Brussels Declaration of September 2002 aiming at furthering the development of European and international cooperation, concrete measures, standards, best practices and mechanisms to prevent and combat trafficking in human beings among European and relevant third countries
§ EU Council Conclusions of 8 May 2003 taking note of the Brussels Declaration, welcoming its general approach to preventing and combating the scourge of trafficking in human beings, and agreeing to examine appropriate proposals made to implement specific items contained in the Declaration
§ UNHCR Guidelines and Principles on Human Rights and Human Trafficking of 2002 stressing that the human rights of trafficked persons should be at the centre of all efforts to prevent and combat trafficking and to protect, assist and provide redress to victims
§ EU Council Proposal for a Comprehensive Plan to Combat Illegal Migration and Trafficking of Human Beings in the European Union of 28 February 2002
Considering the various initiatives underway, in order to avoid duplication, an assessment and evaluation of the present material available will be made prior to the development of the curricula, in order to identify the gaps and define the needs of the beneficiaries. This is particularly true for training materials developed recently by the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) which represent important tools for the training of practicioners on trafficking in human beings against international standards, in particular those of the United Nations.
Additional materials are required:
§ To not only reflect the issue of trafficking in human beings, but equally the questions of smuggling in persons and illegal migration
§ To target training at meeting European standards and practices, and the corresponding benchmarks to be established under this project. Training and materials will thus be designed as tools to bring countries closer to the European Union. In this way, the project will make use of the PHARE experience
§ To broaden the scope of training beneficiaries and ensure that the issues of trafficking, smuggling and illegal migration are also properly reflected in the curricula of academia, universities, public administration and government officials dealing with such questions.
Adequate training should be ensured for all categories of target groups, including police officers, military police personnel, law enforcement officers, custom officers, prosecutors, etc. in order to achieve the highest quality standards of application of the EU acquis in the field of trafficking, smuggling and illegal migration.
Synergies between national police academies and training institutes and specialised centres will be strongly encouraged during the project. Exchange of trainers/lecturers and the opening of the specialised courses to other types of personnel can envisaged as a practical modality to initiate an active cooperation between existing national training institutes.
The development and organisation of training by establishing curricula for a selected number of practitioners, policy makers, facilitators and course managers will be aimed at increasing their knowledge on European police cooperation and legislation in the field of prevention and combating of Organized crime, victim protection, research on modus operandi and profiles of traffickers and victims, gathering information as well as co-operation mechanisms including exchange of information, campaigns of awareness targeting victims, as well as clients and civil servants in charge with investigation or immigration procedures. This will in turn encourage the establishment of a common framework for cooperation between the police colleges and administrations from South-eastern Europe and other parts of Europe.
Special thematic subjects will be developed on the basis of assessment of the needs and beneficiary countries priorities, and taking into account the experience of the EU acceding countries and methodology used in the PHARE Programme.
The project will operate within a current framework for European relations with the region - the Stabilisation and Association process - and will be enriched with elements drawn and lessons learnt from the enlargement process. It will fully take into account the EU Thessaloniki Council conclusions of June 2003, in particular the "The Thessaloniki Agenda for the Western Balkans: moving towards European integration" of 16 June 2003”, which opened up the prospect of EU membership, once the conditions for accession are met. In this respect, active input of the EU acceding countries, in particular Hungary and Slovenia, which are both successfully approaching full EU membership will encourage the countries of the region to apply similar methods and pursue consistent action in the fight against organised crime.
Thus, the project will encourage further reforms in the region and will contribute to the stability and democratisation, protection of human rights and greater security of the region.
In view of the above, the project will in particular respond to the need to:
§ analyse training requirements and existing activities and capacities and to develop a training strategy on trafficking in human beings, smuggling and illegal migration
§ develop training curricula and materials in all matters related to trafficking in human beings, smuggling and illegal migration such as:
- The Trafficking Phenomenon and Methodology – awareness raising – the root causes, economics, ‘push and pull factors, human consequences, strategic risks to civil societies, current and future trends, and global routes etc – all designed to ‘set the scene’ of any training and to develop a comprehensive understanding of the ‘nature of the beast’ etc
- International and national legislation on the subject – Palermo, UNHCHR etc – national trafficking and relevant associated Penal Code articles.
- Signing, ratification and application of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime of December 2000, the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons and the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, Palermo UN Protocol, EU Brussels Declaration and other relevant international instruments, in particular the 1951 Geneva Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, as supplemented by the 1967 New York Protocol.
- Investigative Option – relevance and legality, co-ordination and management of investigation, range of specialist tactics, use of interception and covert surveillance methods, deployment of undercover officers and controlled deliveries, arrest and search operations, suspect interviews, evidential corroboration
- The Investigative Principles – three investigative options and the critical concepts associated with them, parallel financial investigation
- Reactive, Victim-Led Investigative Option – Fundamental principles of victim treatment, initial response, risk assessment, victim screening and identification, international standards, management of victim intelligence, co-operation relationships with the NGO sector
- Victims as Witnesses – sequential approach, investigator-prosecutor co-operation, reflection periods and access to victims in NGO care, the impact of post traumatic stress disorder, evidential recording formats, interview methodology, use of video, testimony options, witness protection, medical examination, evidential corroboration, post trial issues
- Pro-active Investigative Option – relevance and legality, co-ordination and management of investigation, range of specialist tactics, use of interception and covert surveillance methods, deployment of undercover officers and controlled deliveries, arrest and search operations, suspect interviews, evidential corroboration
- International Co-operation – mutual legal assistance, international instruments, best practice rules, direct or centralised methods of agency contact, joint international operations
- Disruptive Investigative Option – limitations, deployment and subjects for disruption.
- Adoption of European Union instruments concerning unauthorised entry, transit and residence
- The creation of joint investigation teams for concerted and effective action against organised networks and groups involved in smuggling and trafficking in human beings.
- Human Rights and International Police Standards, Legal aspects and administrative framework
- Participants will acquire knowledge of Human Rights and International Police Standards (including gender issues), mandates, legal frameworks, administrative and operational procedures
- Intelligence Gathering and Exchange – multi-layered intelligence gathering methods, strategic and tactical intelligence, marketing and networking for intelligence, formatting, evaluation and classification, the role of the international agencies, intelligence exchange with the NGO
- Cooperation on visa policy
- Conclusion and implementation of readmission agreements
- Biometrics
- Co-operation in statistics and data analyses (Methodology and application).
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