"The ratification of the Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings of the Council of Europe entails a continuous obligation for the state party to guarantee access to compensation for victims of trafficking in human beings"– said Jan van Dijk, 1stVice-President of the Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings, the Council of Europe expert body that monitors the implementation of the Convention by the parties, at the international seminar devoted to good practices on establishing a state compensation scheme accessible to victims of human trafficking.

"This international seminar, which was co-organised by the Council of Europe and the Ministry of Justice, represents a first stepping stone towards establishing a state fund or another appropriate scheme that will make way for guaranteeing financial security for victims of human trafficking, as an essential element of their social reintegration" said Kiro Cvetkov, the Ministry of Justice representative, who underlined the political will of his Ministry to build an effective mechanism for compensation of victims of trafficking in human beings.

The seminar brought together approximately 43 relevant stakeholders, both public authorities and civil society actors, to discuss models of state compensation schemes, to illustrate the positive impact of the set up of such schemes in other countries and to examine the kind of measures that could be taken to set up a state compensation scheme accessible to victims of trafficking in the country.

The international seminar was supported by the Action on Preventing and Combating Trafficking in Human Beings under the Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey, a joint co-operation framework of the European Union and Council of Europe that seeks to assist beneficiaries in South-East Europe to comply with Council of Europe standards and European Union acquis in the framework of the enlargement process.