Workshop "Trafficking for labor exploitation"

For two days (31 March to 2 April), RiskMonitor Foundation hosted a workshop on trafficking for labor exploitation. The workshop is one of the key activities under the project Partnership for Successful Institutional Practices for the Prevention of Human Trafficking and Labor Exploitation of Youth at Risk, implemented by RiskMonitor and the University of Oslo, Department of Criminology and Sociology of Law. The project is funded by the Fund for Bilateral Relations for Bulgaria within the EEA FM and NFM for 2009-2014, and it runs from July 2015 till June 2016.

Workshop participants included over 30 representatives from public and civil society organizations, working for the prevention and counteraction of human trafficking: the National Commission for Combating Human trafficking, members of the local commissions of NCCTHB, the Ministry of Labor, Ministry of Interior (Directorate General Combating Organized Crime, Border Police, Migration Directorate, and others), the State Agency for Child Protection, the International Organization for Migration, and many non-governmental organizations (among them Animus Association, PULSE Foundation, A21). Key speakers in the workshop were Dr. Synnøve Jahnsen and Prof. Мay-Len Skilbrei from the University of Oslo. 

The workshop provided an opportunity for practitioners and researchers of trafficking in human beings for labor exploitation to discuss various issues and to exchange knowledge and practices. The Norwegian experts presented the specifics of the institutional and legislative framework for counteracting trafficking and outlined the biggest challenges to the system, such as the identification of victims, the provision of services and protection to the victims, the cooperation between various institutions involved in the process of prevention, protection and prosecution. In several sessions, the participants in the workshop had an opportunity to discuss practical cases as well as to present their own work and activities in the field. One session was dedicated specifically to the topic of networking and cooperation, both among the Bulgarian institutions and NGOs, as well as between the Bulgarian and Norwegian partners. RiskMonitor presented the virtual network of experts, created under the project, which aims to become a forum for ongoing exchange of ideas and discussions on trafficking for labor exploitation. The virtual network runs as a facebook group and will continue to function after the end of the project as well.