“Municipalities and regions are indispensable in the fight against trafficking in human beings,” said Cecilia Dalman Eek (Sweden, SOC/G/PD), Congress Vice-President and co-Rapporteur on human trafficking, in Vienna. She addressed national anti-trafficking co-ordinators and rapporteurs at their meeting on 28 and 29 September, co-organised by the OSCE and the Council of Europe.

During a panel on the role of municipalities and regions in combating human trafficking, Ms Dalman Eek presented the 2025 Congress report “Empowering cities and regions to combat human trafficking for labour exploitation”. In this report, Congress members called on local and regional elected officials to develop strong local anti-trafficking strategies, based on human rights and centred on victims.

“When we talk about human trafficking, we are talking about human rights violations at the most local level,” Ms Dalman Eek said. “It can take place in so many contexts: offices, farms, construction sites, restaurants, and homes in our towns.  Local and regional leaders are indispensable in addressing this. Through our daily work in such areas as housing, health and education, we are often the first to encounter and support victims.”

“But proximity alone is not enough,” the Congress Vice-President stressed, “We cannot be expected to protect victims if we lack funding, capacity or support.”

She also underlined the importance of involving local and regional levels in the development of national action plans. “This is where you, as national coordinators, can play a particularly important role,” Ms. Dalman Eek said to the participants, calling for strong multilevel cooperation to tackle trafficking.

“No institution should be expected to work in isolation – and no victim should be left to navigate a fragmented system alone,” she concluded.