Anti-trafficking stakeholders from South-Eastern Europe on a multidisciplinary thematic workshop

31 January-2 February 2023, Skopje, North Macedonia: UNODC in collaboration with the National Commission for Fight Against Trafficking in Human Beings and Illegal Migration of the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia, held the 2nd regional multidisciplinary thematic workshop on UN.locking Impunity of Traffickers and Supporting Justice for Victims of Trafficking in Persons in Southeastern Europe funded by the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons in the Department of State of the United States of America.

The 3-day regional thematic multidisciplinary workshop brought together a group of criminal justice practitioners from Albania, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia to discuss normative, practical, and policy aspects of successfully tackling trafficking in persons (TIP) cases, under the expert guidance of mentors from Belgium and France as well as through topical input from regional experts.

The workshop addressed gaps in the implementation and operationalization of legislative and institutional frameworks and stressed the complexity of human trafficking through sharing and discussing good practices and solutions with a particular focus on international cooperation.

The regional multidisciplinary thematic workshop builds upon validated findings and recommendations emerging from national reviews and analysis of TIP cases as well as on an evaluation of the 1st regional multidisciplinary thematic workshop conducted in September 2022 in Budva, Montenegro.

The workshop was concluded with a practical exercise allowing the participants to implement acquired skills and competencies on a case scenario that contained normative and practical tasks/riddles topically covering all previous training sessions. A final discussion summarized lessons learned on the three main objectives of the workshop, highlighted potential open issues and detected (new) challenges in need for follow-up mentoring and further training opportunities.