ASSISTING TRAFFICKED WOMEN: Best practice principles in gender-specific assistance and integration support to trafficked migrant women

The ASSISTING TRAFFICKED WOMEN seminar highlights best practices principles, in the area of legal assistance and service provision tailored to the needs of female migrant victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation in Europe.

The seminar will bring together representatives of institutions, policy-makers, service providers and migrant women, including survivors of trafficking, to exchange views on the legal obligations, best practices and barriers to service implementation, to meet the complex and long-term needs of female migrant victims of trafficking. The event disseminates the findings of a two-year project EU AMIF-funded project led by the Immigrant Council of Ireland (ICI), in partnership with the European Network of Migrant Women (ENoMW) and organisations from Germany (SOLWODI), Italy(BeFree), Spain(SURT) and the UK(JustRight Scotland).

Download ASSIST report (English) on best practice principles here

SPEAKERS:

Introduction:

• Dr Roja Fazaeli, Chair of Board, Immigrant Council of Ireland (ICI)
• Dr Noura Raad, Co-President, European Network of Migrant Women (ENoMW)
• Malaika Oringo, survivor of human trafficking, member of ENoMW, women's rights advocate and founder of Footprint for Freedom

Panel 1: Invited Experts:

• Dalia Leinarte, Chair of CEDAW's sub-committee on Trafficking in Women
• Éva Dimovné Keresztes, European Commission, DG HOME
• Tatyana Kotlyarenko, Advisor on Anti-Trafficking issues, ODIHR
• Simona Lanzoni, Vice-Chair of GREVIO Committee
• Chaired by Dr Myria Vassiliadou, former EU Anti Trafficking Coordinator & independent expert

Panel 2: Experts of ASSIST project partnership :

• Survivor of human trafficking and mentor to victims in the Assist project
• Immigrant Council of Ireland, Dublin, Ireland
• SURT, Barcelona/Catalonia, Spain
• BeFree Rome, Italy
• JustRight, Glasgow, Scotland/UK
• SOLWODI, Deutschland e.V. Germany

Seminar is in English with French, Spanish and Italian interpretation

About ASSIST Project

• ASSIST develops and delivers tailored legal assistance and practical support to female third country national victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation in EU Member States in order to support their integration. The understanding of gendered nature of human trafficking for sexual exploitation stands at the core of the concept and the work programme of this project. It also takes into account the implications of the migration developments since 2015, affecting the most vulnerable victims of human trafficking, in particular migrant women and children.

• ASSIST has developed a set of principles, crucial for victims' integration, focused on addressing special legal needs, on the availability and accessibility of material assistance and safe and appropriate housing, through designated shelters or mainstream services, specialised psychological support, access to training and employment, and overall integration support providing longer term solutions to empower the victims.

• ASSIST is based on a victim-centred approach with high level of ethical considerations, whereas victims and survivors of trafficking play a central role in both the conceptualisation and the implementation of the methodology.

• On a practical level, victims participate as experts and service providers in the project. Direct victims’ opinions were gathered for the purposes of gaining an authentic understanding of the specific needs of trafficked migrant women. Victims were also involved in the design and the production of the information materials of the project and played an important role in the services delivered through the pilot programmes established in Ireland, Italy, UK/Scotland, Germany and Spain/Catalonia, in which survivors are recruited and trained as mentors for peer-to-peer support work.

The ASSIST project is funded by the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund of the European Union.