Baghdad, Iraq – 4 July 2021 – Any effort at building capacity among criminal justice practitioners needs to be grounded in a firm understanding of the local context, together with clarity about existing levels of knowledge.
The Global Action against Trafficking in Persons and the Smuggling of Migrants (GLO.ACT-Asia and the Middle East), from 28 to 29 June 2021 invited investigating judges, prosecutors, judicial investigators, and police officers from the Karkh and Al-Rusafa districts of Baghdad to a process mapping workshop, in which participants worked in groups on a mock investigation based on a realistic trafficking scenario. The purpose of the workshop was to capture the flow of decisions and actions between the constituent parts of the criminal justice system, while at the same time observing how participants engaged with the challenges that were written into the exercise.
Ali Elbereir, UNODC’s Senior Programme Coordinator and Head of Office in Baghdad, opened the workshop and stressed how “in addressing the crime of trafficking in persons in a coordinated manner with our Iraqi national partners, and with the generous support of the EU, UNODC aims to support the Iraqi authorities and civil society to develop innovative and practical interventions. These interventions should be strategic, human rights compliant and gender sensitive”.
Representing the European Union which funds GLO.ACT, Barbara Eggers called for an end to the impunity enjoyed by traffickers through development of strong criminal justice responses to trafficking in persons, and encouraged participants to recall the gendered nature of trafficking and the need to work to protect women and children in particular.
The head of the Iraqi delegation, Senior Appeal Court Judge Mohamed Salman Mohamed, thanked the EU and UNODC for arranging the workshop and reiterated the commitment of the Iraqi High Judicial Council to cooperating in the work to combat trafficking in persons.
The GLO.ACT Regional Advisor Martin Reeve outlined the structure of the workshop and its intended outcomes before dividing participants into two equally comprised investigative teams. Over the two days that followed the teams participated in a mock investigation, recording their actions and instructions, and addressing questions on a range of key issues (such as victim protection, evidence collections, and legal definitions). Finally, the two groups came together to present their investigations, to discuss the reasons for the differences in their respective outcomes, and to further discuss questions such as whether children should be automatically considered victims of trafficking when found in exploitative situations.
The approaches to investigation and the interactions between the various participants were recorded, and the knowledge gained will inform future capacity building activity.
This project is funded by the European Union
The Global Action against Trafficking in Persons and the Smuggling of Migrants – Asia and the Middle East (GLO.ACT-Asia and the Middle East) is a four-year (2018-2022), €12 million joint initiative by the European Union (EU) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) being implemented in partnership with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in up to five countries: Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (Afghanistan), Islamic Republic of Iran (I.R. of Iran), Republic of Iraq (Iraq), Islamic Republic of Pakistan (Pakistan). GLO.ACT-Bangladesh is a parallel initiative also financed by the EU and implemented with IOM.
The project builds on a global community of practice set in motion in GLO.ACT 2015-2019 and assists governmental authorities and civil society organizations in targeted, innovative, and demand-driven interventions: sustaining effective strategy and policy development, legislative review and harmonization, capability development, and regional and trans-regional cooperation. The project also provides direct assistance to victims of human trafficking and vulnerable migrants through the strengthening of identification, referral, and protection mechanisms. The project is fully committed to mainstreaming Human Rights and Gender Equality considerations across all of its activities.
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