LAB 9 - Fighting trafficking in Human beings

20 November 2018 - 14.30-16.30 - room 1 - Interpretation: FR/EN

Women have been proven to be the main victims of human trafficking. What can government, states and organisations do to prevent trafficking from occurring? What can be done to help the survivors to rejoin society and have access to education and employment? This lab will focus on ways to stop human trafficking as well as helping and empowering the survivors to ensure their reintegration and rehabilitation.

initiative 1

Women’s rights without borders: cross-border areas in Europe facing prostitution, KBTask, France

This Citizens’ Initiative came into being on 8 March 2017 through the Franco-German platform “Women’s Rights without borders” that gathered 64 signatories from the civic, academic, political and institutional sectors from both sides of the border. The underlying idea is to identify good practices from transnational co-operation activities that can then may be taken up by other geographical areas with similar specificities.

Presenter(s)

Mathilde KARCELES

PhD student in Germanic studies, working on the feminisms and antifeminisms in France and Germany in the mass-culture around 2000s

France

Rebecca BREITMAN

Member of the Young democrats of Strasbourg, the European Movement of Alsace and the The Union of European federalist of Strasbourg

France

initiative 2

Red Tra Sex, Argentina

RedTraSex is a Regional Community Network in Latin America and the Carribean that was bornin 1997 with the purpose of strengthening the National Organisations of Female Sex Workers (hereinafter NSWO) in the defense and promotion of the human rights of Sex Workers (hereinafter FSW) in the region. RedTraSex is made up of organisations from 14 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, women sex workers and / or ex-sex workers through which we represent ourselves. With a direct reach of 30,000 MTS in the region. The RedTraSex represents female sex workers, of legal age and who voluntarily perform sex work.

The main working strategies developed by RedTraSex are:

Strengthening the political and organisational development of the NSWO;
Developing awareness and advocacy activities at the international, regional, sub regional and national levels so that the voice, demand and agenda of sex workers reach decision-making spaces;
Increasing awareness of the health sector, labour and human rights to improve the working conditions of sex workers in the region, from a gender perspective.

Presenter(s)

Elena Eva REYNEGA

Executive secretary, Red Tra Sex

Argentina

She is a Sexual Worker who started her social activism in 1994, organizing against the constant violations of the human rights of sex workers. He founded the Asociación de Mujeres Meretrices de Argentina (AMMAR) and in 1997 she became one of the founders of the Network of Sex Workers of Latin America and the Caribbean (RedTraSex), which brings together 15 countries in the Region, and today is its Executive Secretary. She is a reference at regional and international level. In 2008 he was named outstanding personality of the Human Rights by the legislature of the City of Buenos Aires, and in 2014 the Senate of the Argentine Nation awarded her a diploma of honor for her struggle in the defense of Human Rights.

initiative 3

Bagel Bejgl

Bagel Bejgl, a social enterprise with a dual purpose - opening up a space for women with the experience of human trafficking to find employment, but also to learn and acquire new skills that can contribute to their future employment opportunities. Our Bagel Bejgl is a part of the economic empowerment programme, and serves to encourage victims' economic independence, and simultaneously through the profit it earns enables long-term sustainability of NGO Atina's programme.

Presenter(s)

Jelena HRNJAK

Women’s activist

Serbia

Jelena Hrnjak is a women’s activist, and has dedicated her work to providing direct support and long-term assistance to women and children, victims of human trafficking, and victims of gender-based violence. Jelana is the Program Manager at Atina, a non-governmental organization based in Belgrade that works towards providing sustainable support mechanisms for marginalized groups, especially women and child victims of human trafficking. In this position, she manages a comprehensive reintegration program for survivors that aims to achieve social inclusion and economic empowerment. Jelena also engages with other civil society organizations and institutions that address issues of trafficking in persons as well as gender-based violence. With the help of her colleagues, Jelena also launched a social enterprise, the Bagel Bejgl shop, which provides survivors of trafficking the opportunity to attain professional experience and increase their opportunities for future employment. Over the years, Jelena has led numerous trainings for police officers, prosecutors, social workers, and judges in Serbia. In particular she has helped with the development of local and national networks of institutions to support more structured and efficient identification and protection of child trafficking victims. Jelena spent nearly ten years working as a journalist and earned her degree from the University of Belgrade’s Faculty of Political Science.

Discussants

Discussants are invited to take part in the Labs in order to share their experience with the presented democratic initiatives and try to bring broader perspectives to the following discussions.

Graziella PIGA

Gender expert

Italy

Graziella Piga is an international specialist on women’s rights and gender issues. For the past 18 years Graziella Piga has been engaged in development and democratisation work with a special focus on such spheres as human rights and gender, violence against women, gender and security and good governance.

moderator

Corina CĂLUGĂRU

Ambassador, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Moldova to the Council of Europe

Republic of Moldova

Corina Călugăru, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Moldova to the Council of Europe. Career diplomat from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of the Republic of Moldova, where she had diverse positions with increasing responsibilities from an Attaché to the Counselor within Permanent Mission to the United Nations Office in Geneva, and Director for Global Affairs and Human Rights Division of the General Directorate for Multilateral Cooperation. She was involved in the coordination of international and regional human rights standards application into the national system, coordinator for Freedom Online Coalition membership, etc. Ms. Călugăru graduated from the State University of Moldova with a Bachelor of Law degree and a Bachelor in Economics, Banks and investments, and earned her Master degree in Law from the same University. She has followed NATO Security Studies from the National School of Political Science and Public Administration in Bucharest, Romania; European Training Course in Security Policy at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy; and a series of trainings in human rights, multilateral diplomacy, and other areas of activity.

rapporteur