Hotlines of La Strada in Ukraine and the Netherlands now available 24 hours a day Since 1 February, the Ukrainian National Toll-Free Hotline on Prevention of Domestic Violence, Trafficking and Gender Discrimination has started to work 24/7. The hotline is run by La Strada Ukraine. Since the start, more than 5000 callers received legal, social and psychological support. CoMensha/La Strada Netherlands will also start, by 1 June, a pilot project ‘24/7 Helpline Human trafficking’, to check the need and feasibility to run the hotline 24 hours a day. Round Table on Belarus’ ratification of the human trafficking convention On 26 January, a round table was held in Minsk on the harmonisation of Belarus’ national legislation in compliance with the Council of Europe Convention on Action against trafficking in human beings, which Belarus ratified in 2014. The main purpose of the meeting was to discuss recommendations on harmonising the national legislation on human trafficking with the clauses of the Convention. The Round table was attended by representatives of different state agencies and NGOs, including Gender Perspectives/La Strada Belarus and La Strada Moldova. Tatiana Fomina from La Strada Moldova provided a detailed review of the different international instruments and their

With this quarterly newsletter, La Strada International wishes to inform and update you on developments in the field of trafficking in human beings and the activities of La Strada International and the La Strada member organisations. We welcome your feedback and input. Please e-mail us by 1 June 2016 if you have news, information about your organisation, a new report or documentary or an outspoken opinion on (inter)national developments.

La Strada News 1

Hotlines La Strada Ukraine and Netherlands open 24 hrs a day

TRACE workshop in Stockholm on future trends of human trafficking

‘Demand’ in anti-trafficking

What’s going on? 4

Second GRETA report on Bulgaria

Dutch Agreement on sustainable garment and textile

New Dutch campaign against teen prostitution

What’s new? 7

GRETA’s 5th report calls for protection of children from trafficking and exploitation

Ethical concerns in research on trafficking

Anti-Trafficking Review call for papers

What’s on your mind? 12

Is the Iron Curtain back?

European Civic Forum ‘The deal with Turkey is as sordid as anything I have seen in modern European politics’.

interrelation. She also described possible transfer of the main concepts of the international law to the legislation of the Republic of Belarus. The implementation of the convention by Belarus will be evaluated by GRETA in April this year. See further more information on GRETA’s monitoring visits below. Evaluation of the Law on Victims of Crime in the Czech Republic In August 2015, La Strada Czech Republic finished a project supported by the EEA and Norway grants, on the evaluation of the Law on Victims of Crime. The aim of the project was to look into the practice of the new law, which was adopted in 2013. La Strada Czech Republic was among those organisations who lobbied strongly for its adoption and succeeded in including victims of human trafficking among a group of ‘particularly vulnerable victims’ who deserve greater attention from criminal prosecution authorities. For the previous year and in the framework of the project, La Strada Czech Republic joined forces with Bílý kruh bezpečí (a general victim support organization), Člověk v tísni Plzeň (a regional branch of a major Czech human rights NGO, People in Need) and In IUSTITIA (organisation focusing on helping victims of hate crime) in a common project. The outcomes of the project include eleven case studies with recommendations for improvement of the law. These recommendations are reflected in the ‘Evaluation of the Law on Victims of Crime’, a paper that will be further used for lobbying purposes. The paper was presented to the Ministry of Justice to be used in the course of preparation of the amendment of the Law on Victims of Crime. The amendment is currently under discussion in the Parliament of the Czech Republic. A special brochure aims at informing victims of crime of their rights in the Czech Republic. Ukraine takes measures to address human trafficking and women’s rights protection On 24 February, the Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers approved a new National Action Plan (NAP) on combating human trafficking. It is the 5th Ukrainian action plan and will cover the period 2016 – 2020. La Strada Ukraine actively participated in its development. The same day the Cabinet of Ministers also approved a national action plan on the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution #1325 “Women, Peace, Security”, which is also for the period until 2020. Another positive step is that for the first time in 5 years, a meeting of the Interagency Coordination Council took place on 29 March, to address issues of human trafficking and related issues with NGOs, who could nominate representatives to the Council. La Strada Ukraine was represented at this first Council Meeting. The executive interdepartmental Council on human trafficking, headed by ministers, deputy ministers, and representatives from civil society, has not convened for five years, as the last meeting was held in 2010. Earlier La Strada, other NGOs and also GRETA in its first report on Ukraine, acknowledged the poor coordination among government ministries. Ukraine’s challenges, like the military conflict in eastern Ukraine and the country’s 1.5 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) diverted the government's attention and resources from anti-trafficking action, which has resulted in an over-reliance on NGOs to raise awareness, assist victims of trafficking, and promote legislative reform to comply with international standards. Campaign against Violence against Women in Bulgaria

On 26 January, Animus Association/La Strada Bulgaria took part in the fifth conference of the campaign ‘Open Your Eyes! Break the Silence’, organised by Bulgarian MEP Mariya Gabriel and the Commission for Protection against Discrimination. The aim of the campaign is to raise awareness for violence against women and to give confidence to its victims to speak out. Another major aim is to push the Bulgarian government to sign and ratify the Istanbul Convention, which is now expected to happen by May this year. The conference brought together national and local authorities, members of civil society, representatives of schools and universities, youth associations and many others.

La Strada and TRACE presented at Dutch EU Presidency meeting on trafficking in the Digital Age On 14 March, the Netherlands EU Presidency hosted a Chairpersons’ Meeting on Human Trafficking in the Digital Age in the Hague. This meeting was organised in particular for members of parliaments of the 28 EU Member States. Keynote speakers of the meeting, focusing on trafficking and technology and migration included the Dutch Minister for Security and Justice, Ard van der Steur and the Dutch National Rapporteur on Trafficking in Human Beings and Sexual Violence against Children Corinne Dettmeijer-Vermeulen, as well as Henriette Akofa Siliadin, victim of human trafficking. Her case has been dealt with by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), which judged that France had

violated Article 4 of the ECHR by not actively protecting its citizens from economic exploitation. Anna Donavan, of Trilateral Research Ltd In the UK and coordinator of the TRACE project presented on technology facilitating trafficking and findings from the TRACE project and Briefing Paper on the Role of the Technologies in Human Trafficking. Suzanne Hoff, International Coordinator of La Strada International provided practical insight into the use of technologies for the prevention of human trafficking from the perspective of NGOs and raised concern that the use of technology and collection of data should not infringe upon human rights. They both participated in the panel discussion together with a representative from the Dutch Police, Jean Custers, who provided examples of the use of technologies by traffickers and by the law enforcement to combat human trafficking. All speeches and presentations are available on the conference website. TRACE workshop ‘Policy Implications of Future Trends in Human Trafficking’

On 29 February, the Council of the Baltic Sea States Task Force against Trafficking in Human Beings (CBSS TF-THB), organised together with the other partners of the TRACE consortium a workshop ‘Policy Implications of Future Trends in Human Trafficking’.

In different panel discussions, the workshop addressed new and emerging forms of trafficking in human beings (e.g. forced criminality, forced begging, forced and sham marriages, the current migration flows to Europe and their impact on human trafficking, as well as on innovative tools and approaches to prevent trafficking. The event gathered government officials, representatives of non–governmental and international organisations, national coordinators and rapporteurs, law enforcement, social service providers and other stakeholders from the EU Member States who work with human trafficking issues at an operative as well as a strategic level. The key note speech was delivered by Prof. Ryszard Piotrowicz from the Aberystwyth University in the UK and member of GRETA, the Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings of the Council of Europe. On 30 April 2016 the TRACE project will officially end. A final conference is planned for the beginning in June in Brussels. Two new publications on ‘demand’ in human trafficking The DemandAT project, aiming to better understand and address the issue of ‘demand’ in anti-trafficking efforts and policies, has published two new working papers. The first one, ‘Steering Demand and the Quest for Better Regulation’, focuses on the regulation of demand for illegal and undesirable goods and services. It draws on insights from the areas of illegal drugs, tobacco and employment and uses different regulatory approaches to identify types of smart regulation that might be most pertinent to measures addressing demand related to trafficking. The authors note the challenges of transferring policy solutions and critique the rationalist presuppositions underpinning the literature on regulation. In particular, the paper shows how issue framing shapes policy responses. This, in turn, poses the question as to how issue definition and

framing might act as a constraint on developing new approaches to address demand in human trafficking. The second one looks at the demand side of trafficking in domestic work. Domestic work is a sector of the economy particularly vulnerable to abusive and exploitative practices and is an area thought to be at high risk of hidden trafficking in human beings. Yet trafficking in domestic work remains poorly defined and the multiple drivers of demand in this context are difficult to differentiate. The paper provides a framework for research into this hidden area of trafficking in human beings that captures some of the specificities of work in a domestic setting, particularly as they relate to the demand-side. This will provide common ground for the series of country studies that are to follow.

EU Victims Directive: Infringement cases open against 16 Members States In 2011, the European Council and European Parliament adopted the EU Victims Directive. All European countries (except Denmark) committed themselves to improve the rights and support for all victims of crime by 16 November 2015. This Directive, 2012/29/EU, ensures that all victims of crime have better rights, support and protection. On 16 November 2015, Member States were required under the Victims’ Directive to communicate to the Commission the legislative texts which transpose (purport to) the Directive. However, many EU Member States did not send a communication or only sent a partial communication. At the end of January 2016 the European Commission had to open infringement cases for non-communication against 16 Member States for non-communication of the Victims Directive. Since then one Member State has notified and at the moment the EC still misses 15 notifications. “This does not mean that a Member State hasn’t transposed the Directive, it only means that they haven’t communicated what they have done, states Victim Support Europe. “That’s almost 60% of governments that are failing to honour their commitments to their citizens and to victims of crime. The 16 countries currently having infringement proceedings for non-communication of the Victims Directive are: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia. Over the course of the next two years the Commission will assess in detail every Member State’s implementing laws (and to some extent the practice). The Commission will then publish an implementation report in November 2017, indicating the state of transposition in all participating states. This report can be used to commence or recommence infringement proceedings against non-compliant States. More details on the proceedings can be found here. GRETA's 25th meeting The Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) held its 25th meeting from 7 to 11 March 2016 at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. In the context of the second round, GRETA adopted final reports on Albania, Denmark, Georgia and the Republic of Moldova, taking into account the comments received from the national authorities. These reports will be sent to the authorities concerned and will subsequently be made public, together with eventual final comments by the authorities. GRETA also approved the draft reports on Montenegro, Romania and the United Kingdom. GRETA decided to transmit these draft reports to the national authorities concerned and to ask them to submit their comments within two months. The comments will be taken into account when GRETA draws up its final evaluation reports. GRETA’s draft reports remain confidential until their final adoption. At the same meeting, GRETA decided about the dates for the evaluation meetings in the second quarter of 2016. The evaluation visit to Portugal is planned for 4-8 April; Belarus is planned for 18-22 of April, Norway 9-13 of May and the evaluation visit of Bosnia Herzegovina will take place from 6-10 June. La Strada International encourages NGOs in these countries to report about their countries’ efforts. NGOs can make use of the Guidance for NGOs to Report to GRETA, developed by LSI and ASI in 2011.

The full list of decisions taken at the GRETA meeting is available here. The next GRETA meetings are planned for 4-8 of July and 28 November – 2 December in Strasbourg, France. The full time table of GRETA’s second evaluation round is available online.

Second GRETA report on Bulgaria GRETA published its second evaluation report on Bulgaria. The report assesses developments since the publication of GRETA’s first evaluation report on Bulgaria in December 2011.

According to the report, progress had been made in some areas, in particular related to changes to the legal framework to combat human trafficking, as well as to training and awareness-raising to prevent trafficking. In the report, GRETA welcomes the efforts made in the area of international co-operation, both when it comes to the investigation of trafficking cases and Bulgaria’s participation in international projects. However, there are a number of areas which require improvement, according to Group of Experts. GRETA calls on Bulgaria to improve the identification of victims of trafficking, by ensuring that the National Referral Mechanism is effectively implemented and by increasing efforts to proactively identify victims of trafficking for the purpose of labour exploitation and foreign victims. Bulgaria should also ensure that there is a sufficient number of shelters, including for male victims, and reintegration programmes available. GRETA further urges the Bulgarian authorities to improve victims' access to compensation from the State Compensation Fund and to ensure that human trafficking cases lead to effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions. The report notes the activities undertaken by Animus Association/La Strada Bulgaria, such as the cooperation with the private sector and recruitment agencies in the prevention of human trafficking, the campaign raising awareness for labour exploitation and the legal analysis ‘Promotion of the Rights of Trafficked Persons in Bulgaria: A Human Rights Based Approach’. GRETA’s reports on Albania, Denmark, Georgia and the Republic of Moldova are expected to be made public soon. GREVIO publishes its questionnaire to governments At its fifth meeting, GREVIO, the monitoring body of the Istanbul Convention (The Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence), adopted its questionnaire which will be used to monitor the implementation of the Convention in each State Party. The questionnaire consists of detailed questions on all aspects contained in Chapters II – VII of the Convention. With a view to launching the monitoring of the Convention, it will soon be sent to Austria and Monaco, the first two Parties to the Convention chosen by GREVIO for evaluation. The next countries scheduled for evaluation are Denmark, Albania, Montenegro, Turkey, Sweden and Portugal. Non-governmental organisations and civil society organisations working in the field of combating violence against women are also invited to submit information on the implementation of the Convention on the basis of this questionnaire. The aim of the monitoring is to establish a baseline evaluation of how the Convention is implemented in all Parties. In the beginning of March, the European Commission launched a proposal for the European Union to sign and ratify the Istanbul Convention The proposal to accede to the Convention will be discussed in the Council of Ministers and in the European Parliament, whose consent is needed for the conclusion of the Convention by the EU. 12 EU Member States have already ratified the Convention. A further 13 Member States have signed it but not yet ratified. The Istanbul convention is currently signed by 39 countries; 21 of them also ratified the Convention, which came into force on 1 August 2014. United Kingdom joins fight to end forced labour The United Kingdom has recently ratified the 2014 Protocol to the ILO Forced Labour Convention of 1930, which aims to prevent forced labour and provide support to victims. The UK, along with Niger, Norway and Mauritania are the only nations that have ratified the protocol so far. The Protocol and Recommendation, which was adopted at the International Labour Conference in 2014, added additional measures to the Forced Labour Convention of 1930. The additional protocol requires states who have ratified the protocol to take concrete steps to prevent forced labour and provide protection and access to remedies for victims.

PICUM addresses the European Council on Turkey deal Ahead of the decision of the European Council of 18 March, to sign an agreement with Turkey on the return of refugees and migrants arriving in Europe to Turkey, the Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrations (PICUM), of which LSI is a member, has addressed European Council President Tusk in a letter, expressing concern about the EU agreement with Turkey and current migration policies. Please find the letter here. See also further this newsletter column from the European Civic Forum about the EU deal with Turkey. STROM Guidelines for municipalities On 8 March CBSS TF-THB presented ‘STROM - Strengthening the Role of Municipalities in the Work against Trafficking in Human Beings in the Baltic Sea Region – guidelines for municipalities on how to step up actions against human trafficking’. The STROM Project is a transnational project that aims to strengthen the capacity and role of municipalities in the chain of assistance to victims of human trafficking in the Baltic Sea Region. Cities and regions have a special position when it comes to recognising the signs of human trafficking, however, local and regional authorities in most cases do not have a prominent place in the strategies against human trafficking, even though human trafficking is not just a city phenomenon but has spread also in smaller towns throughout the Baltic Sea Region. The STROM guidelines are based on an earlier base line assessments and consultations and meetings with local experts from Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, the Russian Federation and Sweden. For more information on the guidelines, please contact CBSS. Conference on assistance to victims of human trafficking in the Baltic Sea Region

On 19 March the Finnish Presidency of the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS), the CBSS Expert Group on Cooperation on Children at Risk and the CBSS Task Force against Trafficking in Human Beings (TF-THB) organised a joint conference focusing on How to Enhance Assistance to Victims of Human Trafficking in The Baltic Sea Region. The one-day conference looked into existing cooperation models and how to best ensure adequate assistance to women and men, girls and boys in the Baltic Sea Region. The event, in addition to Cooperation Models, also specifically addressed Victim Assistance and Safe Housing Repatriation and Reintegration of victims. It attracted around 100 participants from the Baltic Sea Region, who work with these issues at operative as well as strategic level such as NGOs, National Coordinators and Rapporteurs, Law Enforcement, Social Services and International organisations. All conference presentations and the agenda can be downloaded here. The conference resulted in a set of recommendations on victim

assistance emphasising the need for closer cooperation between relevant actors as well as empowering victims and assessing their individual needs. The importance of ensuring re-integration of victims with emboldened future prospects was particularly stressed. Meanwhile the conference pressed the necessity of targeting and punishing the criminals and the traffickers, while holding the users of services provided by trafficking victims accountable was also a point of departure and crucial for further action. The specific rights of children were also highlighted and elaborated. Dutch agreement on Sustainable Garment and Textile The Dutch government, civil society organisations, trade unions and textile and garment associations have agreed on a Covenant to support the elimination of child labour and forced labour in the textile and garment sector. Unique to this Covenant is that child labour and other abuses ‘from cotton to garments clothing’ will be identified and addressed within three to five years. The covenant will be signed by the organisations involved and the government if within three months at least 35 companies, who represent together at least one-third of the sales in the Netherlands, will join this initiative. It is very important that the government itself is a party to the Covenant. This shows its political and practical commitment to address the often structural labour and environmental issues in the garment and textile sector. In this context, the government wants to encourage the cooperation at European level and ‘scale up’ national initiatives in countries like Germany, Denmark, the UK and France to the European level where possible. The government also

will provide short-term funding and takes the initiative to look for structural funding of the covenant through a sector-wide levy. The Dutch NGO SOMO published a new fact sheet focuses on migrant labour in the textile and garment industry. It offers buying companies a set of recommendations to minimise the risk of exploiting migrant workers in their supply chain and to ensure that production is taking place under decent working conditions. KISA condemns collective agreement in Cyprus that treats migrant workers like ‘modern slaves’ The Cypriot organisation on Action for Equality, Support, and Antiracism (KISA) issued a statement on 1 February 2016 asking for the abolition of a collective agreement concerning migrant workers in the agricultural and animal farming sector. According to KISA, the agreement creates conditions equivalent to modern slavery. The collective agreement sets the gross salary for a 6-day working period to 455 Euros and makes it compulsory for workers to contribute part of their salary towards a social insurance fund which does not give any real benefits to migrant workers and gives them no access to the public healthcare system. The agreement forces the migrant workers to become a member of a trade union and use part of their salary for the membership fee although most have no contact with the unions. KISA has repeatedly condemned the terms of the agreement and points out that many migrant workers in the farming sector are forced to work over 80 hours in two weeks, including on Sundays and public holidays. Moreover, migrant workers who work under a temporary residence permit usually live at the work place and have limited possibilities to change employers, which often leads to exploitation. KISA called upon the Ministry of Labour to initiate a consultation process with relevant stakeholders with the objective of tackling the exploitation of migrants. They have also requested a renegotiation of the collective agreement so that it is in line with national and international labour law, based on the principle of equality, regardless of the worker’s nationality and residency status. New Dutch campaign against teen prostitution The Dutch hotline Report Crime Anonymously (Meld Misdaad Anoniem), part of Crimestoppers International, has launched a new campaign to raise awareness of forced teen prostitution, targeting both clients and social workers who deal with youngsters. The aim of the campaign, which is predominantly online, is to create awareness of the different signs of forced prostitution. A previous campaign by the website to raise awareness of forced prostitution led to an average of three reports of possible abuse a week.

GRETA’s 5th report calls for protection of children from human trafficking and exploitation

In its 5th General Report published mid-March, GRETA highlights widespread gaps in the identification and protection of victims of trafficking among asylum seekers, refugees and migrants. GRETA expresses concern that significant numbers of unaccompanied minors – including child victims of trafficking – go missing shortly after being placed in reception centres, which exposes them to further risks of trafficking and exploitation. GRETA has urged 36 out of 40 European countries evaluated so far to improve the identification of child victims of human trafficking – and the assistance and support which is given to them – in line with their legal obligations under the Council of Europe’s anti-trafficking convention. “Children and young people arriving on our shores are particularly vulnerable to being exploited by traffickers – especially when they are travelling alone or have been separated from their families,”

said Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland, confirming the findings shared with the Heads of governments in his document “Protecting children affected by the refugee crisis: a shared responsibility”. GRETA President Nicolas Le Coz said: ‘People attempting to reach Europe are easy prey for traffickers, especially as they often face barriers to getting help. States’ legal obligations of identification and protection are a bulwark against the trafficking and exploitation of human beings and a weapon against traffickers.’ ILO Women at Work trends 2016 The Women at Work report provides the latest ILO data on women's position in labour markets, examines the factors behind these trends and explores the policy drivers for transformative change. Over the last two decades, women's significant progress in educational achievements has not translated into a comparable improvement in their position at work. In many regions in the world, in comparison to men, women are more likely to become and remain unemployed, have fewer chances to participate in the labour force and - when they do - often have to accept lower quality jobs. Progress in surmounting these obstacles has been slow and is limited to a few regions across the world. Even in many of those countries where gaps in labour force participation and employment have narrowed and where women are shifting away from contributing family work and moving to the services sector, the quality of women's jobs remains a matter of concern. Manual for experts on multidisciplinary cooperation on trafficking for labour exploitation In January the Dutch government presented a new manual on trafficking for labour exploitation which is the result of the project ‘TeamWork! Strengthening multidisciplinary cooperation against trafficking for labour exploitation’, set up in preparation for the Netherlands presidency of the Council of the European Union, this first half of 2016. It is intended to help strengthen the policy and practice to address trafficking in human beings (THB) for labour exploitation of all organisations that could come across it. More specifically, it aims to stimulate multidisciplinary and cross-border cooperation. Expertise and knowledge from experts from all Member States were collected as input for the manual. It outlines the role that different agencies, such as law enforcement, NGOs, trade unions, businesses, embassies, etc. can play in the identification, referral and assistance to victims of labour exploitation, investigation and prosecution of cases, as well as research and awareness-raising. Hidden workforce in global supply chains The global supply chains of 50 companies employ only six per cent of people in a direct employment relationship, yet rely on a hidden workforce of 94 per cent according to new research from the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), entitled ‘Scandal: Inside the global supply chains of 50 top companies’. The report, released on the eve of the World Economic Forum in Davos, exposes an unsustainable business model, with a global footprint that covers almost every country in the world and profiles 25 companies with headquarters in Asia, Europe, and the United States. It shows that:

• The cash holdings of 25 companies of $387 billion could increase the wages in their combined hidden workforce of 71.3 million by more than $5000 for a year;

• The combined wealth of 24 companies in the US including Amazon, Walmart and the Walt Disney company, could buy Canada;

• Nine companies in Asia including Foxconn, Samsung and Woolworths have a combined revenue of $705 billion, the equivalent value of the UAE;

• Seventeen companies in Europe including Siemens, Deutsche Post and G4S have a combined revenue of $789 billion, the equivalent value of Malaysia.

The ITUC has set out five recommendations for companies to address abuse in global supply chains:

• Supply chain – know whom you contract from and publish this; • Safe work – inspect sites, fix hazards and recognise workers’ right to safety committees;

• Secure work – end short- term contracts; • Minimum living wages – pay wages on which people can live with dignity; • Collective bargaining – for wage share and decent wages and working conditions.

Protection Risks for Women & Girls in the European Refugee & Migrant Crisis – Initial Assessment Almost one million people arrived in Europe in 2015, fleeing from armed conflict, persecution, and pervasive sexual and gender-based violence, the majority coming through Greece and enduring a dangerous journey over hundreds of miles. Concerned by the protection risks faced by women and girls, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and others published this report, which is the result of a joint seven-day assessment mission to Greece and Macedonia. The assessment team visited a number of key sites and refugee camps, both temporary and more long-term, and adopted a qualitative research methodology focused on making direct contact with refugees, as well as key stakeholders involved in their protection. Individual interviews, group interviews, and a focus group session were conducted with refugees, and meetings held with UNHCR, UNFPA, and UNICEF, among others. While the mandate for the mission was to be focused on women and girls, the team observed severe risks for men and boys as well, in particular recruitment into armed groups. The major part of the report presents the findings from the initial assessment on women’s and girls’ protection and responses. The authors profile the population, and examines risks in countries of origin, on migrant routes, and in Greece and Macedonia. In the examination of the two countries, the authors go into more detail about SGBV, access to services and facilities, and reproductive health. Finally, the report discusses the protective responses of the Greek and Macedonian governments, including their capacity, leadership and coordination, and information distribution. The report concludes with a large list of recommendations to EU and national governments, international agencies and local NGOs. Child Victims of Trafficking originating from Bulgaria and Romania Two new research reports published by Terre des Hommes and its partners provide a comprehensive picture of the child trafficking phenomenon and modus operandi in targeted areas of Romania and Bulgaria. These reports are the outcome of a larger project led by the French government aiming at enhancing the fight against child trafficking in Central and South East Europe.

The objectives of the research were to contribute to the identification and improved understanding of the methods of recruitment and coercion of children exploited in France and whose origin allowed to target specific areas of recruitment of children in both Romania and Bulgaria. The research reports also provide an assessment of the response of local actors in the municipalities of origin to the phenomenon of child trafficking, which in turn allowed project partners and all stakeholders involved in the research to develop a set of recommendations and tools that may contribute to enhancing the measures in place to combat the phenomenon in both countries of origin as well as in France. The reports are available for Bulgaria – in Bulgarian and French and for Romania – in Romanian and French. Ethical Concerns in Research on Human Trafficking

A new publication ‘Ethical Concerns in Research on Human Trafficking’, presents a vivid description of the solutions that researchers have discovered for ethical dilemmas that pose themselves at studying disadvantaged, vulnerable and victimized populations. Ethical codes prescribe that the scholar should in all circumstances avoid potential harm, that informed consent is necessary and that the limits of confidentiality should always be respected. However, in the practice of research among women involved in prostitution, illegal immigrant workers, enslaved children, people who sell their organs and all the traffickers thereof, the ethical rules cannot always be followed. This book shows that there is a surprising variety of arguable possibilities in dealing with ethical dilemmas in the field. Authors reflect on concrete experiences from their own fieldwork in a wide

variety of settings such as the USA, Singapore, Kosovo and The Netherlands. Some choose to work on the basis of conscientious partiality, others negotiate the rules with their informants and still others purposely break the rules in order to disclose and damage the exploiters.

Identification and Support for victims of trafficking for Labour Exploitation A new research report published by Focus on Labour Exploitation (FLEX) focuses on seven key areas: identification; access to support; housing; psychosocial support; work; legal counselling; and long-term support. One important finding on identification relates to the key role of labour inspection in preventing labour exploitation in all countries. Whilst labour inspection was found to be critical, it was also shown to suffer when combined with immigration control, meaning victims do not come forward and importantly that trust with workers is damaged. Findings on support included the strong correlation between access to safe housing and recovery and the low take up of psychological support by male victims of trafficking. In general support was found to be very short term with limited consideration of the long-term outcome for the victim.

Based on these key findings FLEX and its project partners the Dutch NGO FairWork and the Romanian NGO ADPARE have made a series of recommendations for NGOs and govenment agencies working on human trafficking. These include, first and foremost, for a clear distinction to be made between labour inspection and immigration control in order to ensure trust between inspectors and workers is maintained and that abuses are prevented before exploitation occurs. Research findings also indicate that victims of labour exploitation in particular are suffering in relation to housing provision, and it is recommended that Governments ensure safe housing is made available to both men and women, and to victims of both labour and sexual exploitation, and that such housing suits individual victims’ needs. Significant barriers to victims’ access to legal remedies, including limited access to specialist legal advice and compensation, must also be addressed by governments providing clear avenues to legal remedies and by building networks of specialist lawyers. Finally the research reveals the little discussed problem of re-trafficking and recommends that Governments gather much more data on re-trafficking to be able understand and address this risk.

Human Trafficking Risks in the 43 Most Important Commodities Which commodities present the highest risk for human trafficking and forced labour? Verité’s new report outlines risks of forced labour faced by workers in 43 of the world’s most important primary commodities. The research is part of Verité’s programme to prevent human trafficking in US federal and corporate supply chains, sponsored by the US Department of State’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. The report describes the structure of the supply chain for each commodity and any links to other supply chains for which the commodity is a key input, and review any government or industry initiatives that exist to reduce human trafficking in conjunction with the commodity in question. The report also includes case studies of documented instances of human trafficking where available. Increased number of migrants and refugees can have positive effect on labour market A paper from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) released in January 2016 discusses the impact of increased numbers of refugees and migrants on the labour markets of countries of destination. The IMF Staff Discussion Note ‘The Refugee Surge in Europe: Economic Challenges’ discusses short and long term macroeconomic impacts by providing available data and analysing previous migration flows. Among others, the paper states that the effect of new migrant arrivals on native workers is usually small. The average wages of national workers change little and the effect on unemployment is also limited. Moreover, the paper looks at housing and education in the context of increasing numbers of migrant and refugee arrivals. It states that policies may be needed to encourage a supply response to the growing demand for housing and that targeted measures for migrant students, such as allocating more resources to schools with a high share of migrants, training teachers for intercultural education and providing adequate language support lead to positive results for migrant children at school.

Anti-Trafficking Review Call for Papers The Anti-Trafficking Review has announced a new call for papers for a themed issue entitled ‘Where's the Evidence?’ to be published in April 2017 and guest edited by Dr Sallie Yea. Often anti-trafficking work is based on assumptions that are not well-proven and seldom questioned. Why, for example, do some

regions or groups emerge as trafficking hot-spots to become ‘intervention intensive’? How do anti-trafficking actors justify and explain the need to continue work in a particular area, or with a particular group? Similarly, anti-trafficking measures often continue in the absence of efforts to monitor and evaluate their effectiveness. How, in these circumstances, can the value of anti-trafficking work be estimated? On what basis is funding continued or denied to organisations undertaking such interventions? There has been some critical reflection on these issues, with a number of critical commentators questioning the production, global circulation and validity of statistics on human trafficking in particular. Statistics often take on a life of their own, despite their often questionable genesis, whilst the place and value of qualitative approaches in the field is also open to some scrutiny. Qualitative research methods are not necessarily any more robust, and critics have questioned unethical and sometimes directly harmful methods of both qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis. This special issue builds on such work, to critically explore the question of evidence in both the characterisation of human trafficking and in evaluating the merit of anti-trafficking work. The deadline for submissions is 1 July 2016.

Beyond Trafficking and Slavery short course Activists, academics, trade unions, governments and NGOs around the world are trying to both understand and address forced labour, human trafficking, and modern slavery. But the frequently poor track record of past efforts in this area means that there is an urgent need for both additional research and further debate regarding the best pathways forward. For this reason, the Beyond Trafficking and Slavery section of OpenDemocracy has published the BTS Short Course, with its publications from the past 18 months, making it the world’s first open access ‘e-syllabus’ on forced labour, human trafficking, and slavery. With 167 contributions from 150 top academics and practitioners, this 900-page, eight-volume set is packed with insights from some of the best and most progressive scholarships and activism currently available. It is free for download. New website of People’s Global Action on Migration, Development and Human Rights ahead of GFMD in Dhaka

The next Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) will take place in December 2016 in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The GFMD presents an important opportunity for migrant communities and civil society organisations to reimagine the format and potential impact of the process of the People’s Global Action on Migration Development and Human Rights (PGA). Over the years, the PGA has provided a space to establish strong cross-sectoral relationships and strategies. It is now at a stage where we

must look to leverage that unity and to take our dialogues with governments to the next level. A website has been set up to coordinate communications and mobilise actions before the GFMD in

December. In addition to serving as an online bulletin board for PGA updates and information, it can be also used to mobilise, develop positions on key issues, and share information through online forums, Facebook and Twitter.

6-7 April - European Migration Forum, Brussels Belgium 11 - 12 April - 16th High-level Alliance against Trafficking in Persons Conference, Vienna, Austria 13 April – Alliance Expert Coordination Team meeting (AECT), Vienna, Austria 18 – 22 April - Identifying and investigating cases of forced labour and human trafficking, Turin, Italy 20-21 April - European Workshop, Proactive Identification and Support for People Trafficked for Labour Exploitation organised in the framework of the Pro-Act project, London, UK 11 – 13 May – Free University Belgium (VUB) panel at the fifth edition of the European Union in International Affairs conference: “Civil society organisations in the global counter-trafficking governance: when long-standing interactions lead to solid partnerships”, Brussels, Belgium 23 – 27 May – 25th session of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, Vienna, Austria 25 – 26 May - Victim Support Europe Annual Conference, Utrecht, The Netherlands 1 -2 June – Balkans ACT Now II, final conference, Belgrade, Serbia 8 June - TRACE Final conference, Brussels, Belgium (t.b.c) 9 -10 June - EU Civil Society Platform, Brussels, Belgium 10 - 11 June - PICUM annual meeting, Brussels, Belgium 20 – 23 June - Fundamental Rights Forum, Vienna, Austria 30 June- 2 July - 13th IMISCOE Conference (International Migration, Integration and Social Cohesion Network), Prague, Czech Republic.

This article was originally published in European Civic Forum’s newsletter of 31 March. We are republishing it with the organisation’s permission. The European Civic Forum (ECF) is a transnational network bringing together over 100 associations and NGOs in Europe, actively working on issues such as citizenship education, defence of Human Rights and the advocacy of Democracy.

Is the Iron Curtain back? As you read in Sunday’s 20th March Financial Times the following, you understand something important occurred during the EU Council meeting held two days earlier. “The deal with Turkey is as sordid as anything I have seen in modern European politics. On the day that EU leaders signed the deal, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish president, gave the game away: “Democracy, freedom and the rule of law… For us, these words have absolutely no value any longer.” At that point, the European Council should have ended the conversation with Ahmet Davutoglu, the Turkish prime minister, and sent him home. But instead they made a deal with him — money and a lot more in return for help with the refugee crisis.” When this summer, Germany opened its borders to welcome the refugees fleeing the Syrian civil war, with no set limits, many could feel proud about the European values in action, even if the last decades were not so conducive in making Solidarity at the heart of public policies (we all remember Greece, not to mention other recent events). We then witnessed the surge of border closure inside the Schengen area. Regressive populism, not exclusively handled by the far-right, was making its way through, finally reaching the EU Council. From the 20 March onwards, refugees and migrants arriving in Greece will be sent back to Turkey after an express procedure – a few hours – while a serious study of an asylum request usually takes weeks, if not months. Throughout Europe protesters criticised EU leaders, pointing out at major

legal issues, including the fact that Turkey can hardly be considered a safe third-country for refugees. As a reminder, Turkey has extended records of temporary border closures, violation of international asylum-seekers law… some sine qua none conditions for being declared a safe country. Moreover, the Asylum Procedures Directive considers a country of origin as safe, when there is “no threat by reason of indiscriminate violence in situations of international or internal armed conflict”, which obviously is not the case with Turkey in the current context. Knowing this, the agreement foresees up to 72 000 refugees to be sent back from Greece to Turkey. European leaders claim without shame that they expect these expulsions will discourage refugees to claim asylum in Europe. And, to hide this ignominious goal, the EU accepts to resettle one Syrian refugee from Turkish camps for each refugee sent back from Greece to Turkey. 18 000 should be distributed along an agreed repartition between Member-States, the other 54 000 on a “voluntary” basis. Today, even for marginal numbers in consideration of the number of people seeking safety, the EU leaders cannot agree for a sustainable and cohesive approach to the refugee crisis. A chance for a clear migration policy based on European shared values of Solidarity and Equality has been torpedoed during the March 2016 European Summit. The relocation policy for 160 000 refugees drafted in September 2015 is now totally abandoned, victim of national egoisms and xenophobic attitudes towards refugees. Europeans leaders just decided on their own to raise a new iron curtain, this time not imposed by the outside. As Ms Merkel was putting it some weeks ago, that is not the Europe we want to live in!

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