New trans-European project seeks improvements for trafficking victims
We’re delighted to announce the launch of a new trans-European project which brings together organisations from France, Italy, the Czech Republic and Ireland to improve the way victims of trafficking are supported. The two year EU funded project on the identification of TRafficked International Protection beneficiaries’ Special needs (TRIPS) kicked off last month and will run until December 2021.
Background
The impetus for the project came from the shared understanding among anti-trafficking organisations across Europe about the particular vulnerabilities of victims of trafficking who are also seeking international protection. A frequent problem identified at local, national and regional levels relates to the identification process and the responses to specific needs.
The Immigrant Council of Ireland has been exploring the important link between human trafficking and international protection for a number of years. This is due to the fact that many of our clients are applicants of international protection and some are beneficiaries of such protection.
In 2011, we investigated the difference in the level of assistance and rights afforded to victims of trafficking who are and who are not applying for asylum, respectively. Our report Asylum seeking victims of trafficking: Legal and practical challenges exposed the discriminatory treatment of some victims of trafficking in Ireland. Later on, with Forum Refugie France and other partners in the EU we explored the special needs of asylum seeking victims of trafficking (TRACKS project), which used the framework established by the EU Reception Directive (2013/33/EU), which Ireland adopted in 2018.
With TRIPS, we will be focusing on the special needs of the beneficiaries of international protection who have been victims of trafficking. Ireland (along with Denmark) has not opted into the EU Qualification Directive (2011/95/EU) and so exist in the absence of a legal frame for addressing the integration needs of international protection beneficiaries (recognised refugees, programme refugees and holders of subsidiary protection). We will be sharing our practical experiences and exchange best practice experiences with the other partners organisations which have the benefit of a specific legal/policy provisions deriving from the EU Directive.
TRIPS
The joint project was inspired by organisations, which recognised that after getting an international protection status, victims face challenges during the integration process. While most European countries have ratified the European Qualification Directive at the end of 2013, the specific rights which are supposed to be granted to beneficiaries of international protection are not always playing out in practice. This includes specialised support from a range of areas, including social and legal support, health, labour access, housing, security issues, etc., which facilitate effective integration. As their vulnerability does not stop with the acquisition of the international protection, integration processes and those involved must be able to address their needs.
Following the results and tools elaborated as part of the project TRACKS, focusing on the identification of TRafficked Asylum seeKers’ Special needs, this new project will pursue this research on how to identify and address specific needs of trafficked beneficiaries of international protection (BIP) in their integration.
The objectives
The general objective of this project is to better identify and address specific needs of victims of trafficking who are also beneficiaries of international protection in relation to their integration process in the host society through a practical, person-centred and comparative approach. The long-term impacts are:
- At EU and national level, alert and orientation guidelines included in the toolbox are embedded in integration and anti-trafficking practitioners’ practices.
- The number of trafficked beneficiaries of international protection identified in the integration process is higher.
- The number of trafficked beneficiaries of international protection appropriately oriented and supported in their integration process is higher.
- Trafficked beneficiaries of international protection benefit from an appropriate integration process.
The project TRIPS is co-funded by the European Commission and implemented by Forum réfugiés-Cosi from France, project coordinator, and European partners: Consiglio Italiano Per I Rifugiati (Italian Council for Refugees - CIR) from Italy, Immigrant Council of Ireland from Ireland, Organizace pro Pomoc Uprchlíkům (Organization for Aid to Refugees - OPU) from Czech Republic, and Churches Commission for Migrants in Europe (CCME).
