DEFLECT Project Expert Conference: Forced Labour Exploitation and Counter Trafficking in the Baltic Sea Region

The Council of the Baltic Sea States Task Force against Trafficking in Human Beings (CBSS TF-THB), the Norwegian Ministry of Justice and the Police as well as the European Institute for crime prevention and control (heuni) had invited experts to discuss problems and findings in the field of forced labour exploitation and counter trafficking in the Baltic Sea region from 7 – 8 June 2011 in Oslo, Norway. During the conference the transnational DEFLECT project was launched in which the BSLN is associated partner. The project aims at enhancing local capacity to counter trafficking in human beings for forced labour and collecting comparable data in the eleven CBSS Member States.

The contributes of many different experts made clear that the topic of Forced Labour Exploitation and Counter Trafficking is strongly connected to many other aspects like for example Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). In order to increase the knowledge about trafficking and to create a base for political action, the Task Force against trafficking in human beings has carried out the study “Hard Data: Data Collection Mechanisms on Human Trafficking in the Baltic Sea Region”. It lines out cross border problems in data availability, transparency and comparability and recommends collecting publishing and exchanging the respective information. The proposal to amplify the data collection in order to include also qualitative data was generally accepted but also stated that the responsible NGOs have often only limited resources.  Referring to this findings, the DEFLECT project will focus on collecting the respective data.

One of the main problems in fighting trafficking in human beings is the identification of the victims - which is essential for political action. Since forced labour exploitation is happening in a cross border context, the problem calls for transnational strategies. The experts underlined the need to address with prevention policies the countries of origin as well as of destination. Although an exchange of national experiences is important, the specific prevention strategies are not directly transferable from one community to another.

The CBSS Task force will evaluate the results of the conference and take them into account in their further project work. The presentations of the experts will be available soon on the CBSS webpage: http://www.cbss.org