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Programmes and Operations
Present Programmes |
A Counter-Trafficking
: Overview of ICMC Counter-trafficking Programming
Albania
Program details
In 1999, ICMC, together with the International Organization
for Migration (IOM), began a project to offer protection and assistance
to trafficked women. The women, primarily from Romania, Moldova
and the Ukraine, either had escaped their traffickers or had been
caught by the Albanian police as they attempted to pass through
Albania to Italy and other destinations in Western Europe.
ICMC provided the women with temporary accommodation in a protected
shelter, counseling, and help with repatriation and reintegration.
IOM arranged for the provision of new passports and other travel
documents that, in many cases, the women either had lost, or criminals
had confiscated.
From 1999 to 2002, the ICMC/IOM program, working closely with
Albanian authorities, provided protection, assistance and return
for over 300 trafficked women from other countries, primarily
Romania, Moldova and the Ukraine.
Using the extensive information gained through their work with
the victims of trafficking, ICMC and IOM produced a report titled,
Second Research Report on Third Country National Trafficking Victims
in Albania. This report reviews data contained in the case profiles
of 74 victims assisted during 2001, as well as reports produced
by local and international NGOs, OSCE and governmental sources.
A pdf copy of this report is available on this
website. The file size is 840KB. Depending on your Internet connection
speed, it may take about 5 minutes to download Second Research
Report on Third Country National Trafficking Victims in Albania.
Two primary goals of the program were i)to help decrease the
number of women being trafficked through Albania, and ii)to support
the development of Albanian NGO and governmental agencies that
would take over the work of these international agencies. In the
past three years, there has been a significant improvement in
policing efforts to combat trafficking in Albania. This has resulted
in a substantial decrease in the number of women being trafficked
through the country. At the same time, the government has established
a shelter for trafficking victims near Tirana. The establishment
of this shelter, along with two other shelters run by national
NGOs, provides adequate capacity to serve the victims currently
being identified. ICMC completed its shelter program in October
2002.
ICMC continues to cooperate with the NGOs, inter-governmental
and governmental agencies that address issues of trafficking in
human beings in Albania. In 2002, ICMC, with the British Embassy,
implemented a pilot activity, in collaboration with the anti-trafficking
unit of the Durres Police, by rehabilitating a police unit and
providing information sharing sessions for the anti-trafficking
police. These sessions covered the recognition of stress related
disorders of victims of trafficking and domestic violence, and
models of counseling in recognition of the need of referral services
for a high risk female caseload.
The ICMC/Center for Refugee and Migration Studies has served
an important advisory role in the establishment of the All Together
Against Child Trafficking (ATACT) network, which is a coalition
of international organizations (IOs) and non-governmental organizations
(NGOs). The coalition works to prevent child trafficking in Albania,
and contributes legal expertise and general advice. CRMS has conducted
preliminary research into the issue of trafficking of women and
children from Albanian Roma and Egyptian communities, who are
the two most socially and economically vulnerable communities
in Albania. The disproportionate incidence of trafficking victims
from these communities was brought to the attention of appropriate
IOs, NGOs and government authorities. Individual protection cases
encountered were also referred to IOM. Efforts at capacity building
and leadership skills for Roma leaders throughout 2002 began to
bear fruit in January 2003 when Roma leaders from across Albania
met for the first time to co-ordinate their advocacy efforts.
In May 2003, the ICMC/CRMS completed a six-month study of human
trafficking in Albania for the International Labor Organization
(ILO) in Geneva. The study reviews root causes, pull factors and
current trends in trafficking of Albanians, primarily women and
children. A national workshop was held in Tirana on 4 April 2003
to introduce the findings of the report to key partners, including
national and international NGOs, government ministries, and international
agencies and donors.
ICMC continues to play an active role both in the development
of the ATACT network, and through its contacts with the IOM national
network forum.
We encourage clear lines of communication and information sharing
within these groups, which have as a focus of concern:
- giving advice about the current national
anti- trafficking strategy for children
- building up civil society services in child
protection, prevention, assisted voluntary return and reintegration.
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