REGIONAL CONFERENCE on Strengthening the Criminal Justice Response to Trafficking in Persons in the Black Sea Region 

Mamaia/Constanta, Romania

18 - 20 June 2008

The effective action to prevent and combat trafficking in persons, especially women and children, requires a comprehensive transnational/regional approach, including cooperation, the exchange of information, experiences and other practical measures, including socio-economic measures, at the national and regional levels. Such approach includes more specifically measures providing victims of trafficking with the protection of their internationally recognized human rights.

Weaknesses in the criminal justice response to human trafficking within the Member States of BSEC, identified by UNODC, justified a substantive intervention at regional level in order to foster bi- and multilateral cooperation between the BSEC countries in their anti-human trafficking activities. All BSEC countries have taken action to fight trafficking and recognize it as a severe problem. All BSEC countries have ratified the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (Anti-Human Trafficking Protocol). The majority of BSEC states have established intergovernmental task forces and adopted Action Plans. Many bilateral and multilateral agreements on exchanging information and providing legal assistance have been signed.

Pursuing an effective partnership approach, UNODC has developed the project in close consultation with BSEC to stimulate ownership. After presenting a first project idea to the BSEC Working Group on Cooperation in Combating Crime, in particular in its Organized Forms, in Bucharest in March 2006, the Council of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of BSEC that was held in Moscow on 1 November 2006 endorsed the project idea. The Council, in its decision, expressed its satisfaction for the enhanced cooperation between BSEC and UNODC and instructed Permanent International Secretariat of the BSEC (PERMIS) to take further steps for the implementation of the project. The Permanent International Secretariat of BSEC has offered to facilitate project implementation through assistance in data collection and hosting of the Expert Group in Istanbul and proposed Bucharest as the venue for the Conference since Romania currently chairs the BSEC Working Group on Combating Organized Crime.

The Regional Conference was the main event to be organized under this Project and brought together criminal justice practitioners (including police, border control officers, prosecutors and judges), relevant service providers (including NGOs), researchers and decision-makers. In general, the conference served to facilitate networking, expertise exchange, analyze the weaknesses and strengths of the current criminal justice responses and provide recommendations to strengthen the criminal justice response to human trafficking. On the other hand, a Regional Action Plan will help the BSEC Member States to enhance their cooperation in the field of Criminal Justice Response to Human Trafficking. The delegates expressed their thanks to United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) for the technical assistance provided in the process of formulation of the draft Regional Action Plan for Strengthening Criminal Justice Response to Human Trafficking in the Black Sea Region and invited UNODC to continue its involvement in the project implementation. The outcomes of the Regional Conference are:

1. enhanced bi- and multilateral networks and dialogue among the relevant criminal justice actors in the Black Sea region,

2. improved access to knowledge and exchange of existing expertise and best practices, and

3. the provision of guidance for further action through a Regional Action Plan on Bi- and Multilateral Cooperation in the Field of Criminal Justice Response to Human Trafficking.

The present report describes the conference proceedings, specific administrative activities and accomplishments of the Regional Conference on Strengthening Justice Response on Trafficking in Persons in the Black Sea Region, held in Mamaia, Romania from 18th to 20th of June 2008.

Report Regional Conference June 2008