2014

Adina Schwartz, Claudiu

Schwartz

Pro Prietenia Arad

11/1/2014

Transnational Workshop, Timisoara, Romania - REPORT

Exchange good practices in assisting and protecting the victims –

the Romanian perspective – A multidisciplinary approach

“The strongest argument for addressing issues

from a multidisciplinary perspective

is the very fact that life is not divided into disciplines” – J. Moffett

From the 24th to the 25

th of October 2014 took place in Arad, the transnational workshop

on “Exchange good practices in assisting and protecting the victims – the Romanian perspective – A multidisciplinary approach”.

The event was hosted by the Pro Prietenia Arad Foundation in partnership with the Arad

County Police – as associate partner in the project- and with the support of the National

Agency Against Human Trafficking – Regional Center Timisoara, the Brigade to Combat

Organized Crime and Terrorism, the Pointman Leadership Institute and the Western

University of Timisoara.

The transnational workshop was part of the activities implemented through the CONNECT

Project - "Combat Organized Crime's Networks and expend Countries Ties: Enhancing

Horizontal Cooperation Among Italy, Portugal and Romania in Human Trafficking" –

financed by the European Commission through the "Prevention of and Fight against Crime -

HOME/2012/ ISEC/AG" Program.

Moreover, the workshop was also seen to be a continuation of the approach initiated by Pro

Prietenia Arad with the above mentioned institutions in December 2011 in Arad – the

International Symposium "Preventing Human Trafficking – With special regard to the

cooperation between civil society and governmental specialized agency"; the workshop

which took place in three counties - Arad, Timis, Caras-Severin during April 2012 - entitled

"Inter - Institutional collaboration in the fight against human trafficking"; the International

Symposium "Human trafficking - Form of Transnational Organized Crime", which took

place in Arad during 23-26 October 2012 and the International Symposium “Human

trafficking from a multidisciplinary perspective” organized between 14-18 October 2013.

However, this event was also a response to the call of the European Union to the European

community, including regional and national institutions, non-governmental organizations and

the EU institutions and agencies, both to counter the challenges posed by transnational crime

and to provide clear and comprehensive response policies towards multidisciplinary and

coordinated efforts involving all the relevant parties in the countries of origin, transit and

destination in order to reduce the number of victims trafficked.

The workshop was organized with the purpose of developing and improving consistent

practices designed to reduce the number of trafficked persons and to develop the

prevention and assistance methods used by the practitioners against human trafficking and for

the victims of this crime.

The objectives of the workshop were:

� enhancement of the capacities of Italian and Portuguese stakeholders in adopting and

managing integrated programs of victim’s assistance and protection;

� development of more efficient and strategic prevention methods of human trafficking;

� improvement of control strategies; the offering of more qualified assistance to victims

of

� improvement of the working methods and collaboration/cooperation of the relevant

legal entities involved in the fight against human trafficking;

� development of a more proactive approach of the participants in the fight against

human trafficking through principle based leadership;

� the transfer of ethical principles in the field of institutional and NGO leadership as

well as the prevention and control of corruption, this being seen as the main source of

the organized international crime cells;

� the exchange of information in controversial problems regarding the assistance and

protection of the victims of trafficking;

� the creation of bridges between institutions, NGOs, and national and international

specialists that have as their main activity the control and prevention of trafficking in

human beings;

� the awareness rising of the state members in providing financial support, delegating

also this task to NGOs.

The expected results were:

� the participation of 60 experts selected from different disciplinary fields in the

transnational workshop;

The outputs of the project are expected to be:

� the creation of a toolkit describing good practices in assisting and protecting the

victims of sexual exploitation prepared and disseminated;

� one recommendation to improve the Italian and Portuguese framework for protection

and assistance in accordance to the Romanian experience prepared.

The event was officially opened by: Margherita MANISCALCO – Project Coordinator

from CISS Italy, Catarina Frade MOREIRA – territorial expert from UMAR Portugal,

Johanes DIETRICH – legal adviser of the German Embassy, Michael ASKEW - Regional

Director of Pointman Leadership Institute, Romeo Florea TARCEA - President of

Proprietenia Arad Foundation. The Deputy Head of the Arad County Police – Stefan

TROIAC - has welcomed the participants and assured them of total openness for further

collaboration, networking and project implementation.

The organizers, during the opening session, have also introduced to the participants and have

welcomed the representatives of the Police of Zrenjanin – Serbia, the representatives of the

Police of Bor – Serbia, of the Police of Csongrad – Hungary and of the Police of

Beckescsaba – Hungary.

The moderators of the workshop were: Phd. Mihaela Tomiță – Associate Professor at the

Western University of Timisoara, and Adina Schwartz – Lawyer and Coordinator of the

“Justice Department” of Pro Prietenia Arad Foundation.

The workshop was attended by 86 representatives from 6 countries - Romania,

Hungary, Serbia, England, Italy and Portugal within 61 public institutions and NGOs,

as follows:

Serbia:

1. Police of Zrenjanin

2. Police of Bor

Hungary:

3. Police of Csongrad

4. Police of Beckescsaba

The U.K.:

5. Pointman Leadership Institute – The U.K.

6. Europe for Europe NGO – The UK

Romania: 7. Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany

8. National Police of Romania – Department of Information and Internal Protection

9. Arad County Police Inspectorate

10. Pointman Leadership Institute – Romania

11. Western University of Timisoara – Faculty of Social Assistance

12. Western University of Timisoara – Faculty of Law and Administrative Sciences

13. National Agency against Trafficking in Persons - Regional Centre Timisoara

14. National Agency against Trafficking in Persons - Regional Centre Cluj – Napoca

15. National Agency against Trafficking in Persons - Regional Centre Craiova

16. Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism

– Prosecutor’s Office – Arad

17. Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism

- Prosecutor’s Office – Oradea

18. Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism

- Prosecutor’s Office – Timisoara

19. Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism

- Prosecutor’s Office – Craiova

20. Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism

- Prosecutor’s Office – Bistrita Nasaud

21. Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism

- Prosecutor’s Office – Satu Mare

22. Prosecutor’s office of the Court of Justice Arad

23. Prosecutor’s office of the Court of Appeal Timisoara

24. Organised Crime Squad Arad

25. Organised Crime Squad Timisoara

26. Organised Crime Squad Cluj Napoca

27. Organised Crime Squad Bistrita Nasaud

28. Organised Crime Squad Craiova

29. Dolj County Police Inspectorate

30. General Directorate of Social Assistance and Child Protection Arad

31. General Directorate of Social Assistance and Child Protection Timisoara

32. General Directorate of Social Assistance and Child Protection Cluj

33. Save the Children Association

34. The Society For Parents and Children

35. The Philanthropy Association

36. AIDROM Association

37. Lawyers

38. Social Assistants

39. Bunul Samaritean Association

40. Pro Prietenia Arad Foundation

Portugal: 41. UMAR - Uniao de Mulheres Alternativa e

Resposa

42. Oikos

43. Judiciary Police

44. Camara de Lisaboa

45. APAV

46. CIG – National Raporteur

47. ComuniDaria

48. PGR – Prosecutor’s Office

49. SEFS

50. Saude em Portugues

51. APF

52. O Ninho

53. IAC – Instituto de Apoio a Crianca

Italy:

54. CISS - Cooperazione Internazionale Sud Sud

55. Le Onde

56. Unida di Strada – Cultural mediator

57. Caritas

58. Pool Antimafia – Prosecutor’s Office

59. Redattore Sociale

60. Pellegrino Della Terra

The topics presented during the transnational workshop were according to the following

schedule:

Day 1 – 24.09.2014

The first day, after the official opening, started with the presentation on leadership based on

principles in the fight against human trafficking, supported by Michael Craig ASKEW and

Nigel BROWN from the Pointman Leadership Institution. The presentation entitled

“Leadership Master Class to Identify the Challenges of Being in Authority and Best

Practicein Leadership Against Human Trafficking” focused on personality development for

leaders based on principles tested over time and which’s’ application is intended to "equip"

leaders with wisdom, conviction and character to help them develop those who follow them

and depend on them. The eight character traits that were discussed were: integrity, courage,

discipline, loyalty, diligence, humility, optimism and conviction. It has also shown the

importance of a proactive attitude in the fight against human trafficking and in the assistance

of these victims. Moreover, it has underlined the importance of honest development of

assistance services and the role of empathy when working with the trafficked victims.

This presentation was continued with the presentation entitled “Best Practices in Human

Trafficking. Supporting the Victims – International Comparisons UK, Romania, Italy,

Portugal”. Through this presentation Michael Askew and Nigel Brown have shown the

situation of the countries in view highlighting positive and negative aspects and they have

drown a detailed comparison between them through the last presentation of the day – “Best

Practice in Human Trafficking Partnerships. A comparative Approach”. This

presentation has also shown best practices in public – private collaborations and the good

outcomes of multidisciplinary approaches.

The training sessions have combined plenary sessions with interactive sessions and group

works on different themes in order to come up with new and fruitful ideas generated by the

participants but also to facilitate and bridge the communication between the participants.

The presentations of this day were hold in English and the three translators have translated

the presentations into Romanian, Italia and Portuguese. As for most of the participants

English was not the native language, the moderators have tried to facilitate the

communication so that the message transmitted by the speakers would be properly perceived

by the participants.

During the evening of the first day the organizers have prepared a traditional Romanian

evening in order to make the participants familiar with the Romanian traditions, the

Romanian traditional clothes, paintings decorations and the Romanian music, food and dance.

Day 2 – 25.11.2014

During the second day several presentations were hold with regards to the protection and

prevention of human trafficking, showing the situation in Romania, Portugal and Italy, as

follows:

� Best Practice in Human Trafficking Partnerships. Action Plan– Michael Askew; Nigel

Brown – Pointman Leadership Institute

� The Programme of Assistance for Nigerian Victims of Pellegrino Della Terra –

Dr. Vivian Wiwoloku

� Article 18 and the Victims' Protection Laws – Dr. Angela Spatola

� The Role of the Public Prosecution in the Investigation of THB Cases – Miguel

Angelo Carmo

� The Role of IAC in the Defense and Promotion of Children’s Rigths – Paula Paçó

� The Work Done on the Centre for Shelter and Protection - Júlia Cardoso

� Case Studies on Investigation Methods of Human Trafficking – Presentations and

Debates – Sorin Bogdan, Brigade to Combat Organized Crime – Cluj

� The Experience and Support of Women Victims of Trafficking in Human Beings in

Palermo – Sister Valeria Gandini

This day has contained both plenary sessions and debates. Since many of the participants

were prosecutors and police officers, the moderators have facilitated a debate after the case

studies presented by the Romanian Police Officer. The specialists have approached in the

debate the subjects of combating human trafficking, legislative gaps between the countries,

investigation methods used and joint investigation themes.

The final session of the day was hold by Laurentiu Dinca, the head of the National Agency

Against Human Trafficking – Regional Center Timisoara. He has presented aspects regarding

the National Referral Mechanism of Romania and the victim assistance methods used in

Romania.

This way, the participants were able to draw conclusions and make differences between the

methods of assistance and prevention used in Italy, Portugal and Romania, thanks to the

previous presentations of the Italian and Portuguese speakers.

The transnational workshop in Romania was closed with a plenary in which each country has

selected a speaker who was asked to give a feed-back of the workshop outcomes.

The information about the workshop was disseminated through press – releases, on the

website of Pro Prietenia Arad and through the Facebook of it. Before the workshop has

started, the organizers gave interviews to the local radio station – Radio Timisoara and to a

regional television station – West TV. The interviews were shown at the evening news of that

day. The press releases were published in 9 online newspapers.

In order to bridge the communication between the participants, the organizers have

disseminated the participation forms with the contact details of the participants.

As a follow up, the organizers have sent “Thank you!” letters to the participants and a link to

the pictures taken through the workshop.

In order to be able to revise the information listened to, the Power - Point presentations used

by the speakers were disseminated to the participants.

The conclusions drawn through the workshop are as follows:

Human trafficking is one of the most complex offenses in the sphere of organized cross-

border crime, generating a number of negative consequences on macro and micro – social

level. The deepening of the roots of this crime reflects the weaknesses and shortcomings of

society in which it manifests. The mobility and flexibility of border criminal groups is

directly proportional to the demand of the market and accurately reflects the ability of

offenders to work in a team and exploit legal loopholes and differences between different

legal systems they come in contact with.

Trafficking victims have a number of particular features compared with victims of other

violent offenses, due to the complexity of this crime, which absorbs and incorporates a

number of other offenses such as false imprisonment, assault, battery, rape, etc.

Due to this reason and to the fact that most of the victims suffered both physical and mental

long-time effects which deeply affects both the physical and mental health of the victim, the

social reintegration and rehabilitation of the victims is, in many cases, an elusive goal.

Therefore, it is not difficult to conclude that a sequential approach to this scourge doesn’t

have the ability to generate long-term effects, thus, a direct-proportional response

internationally, based on multidisciplinary collaboration and cooperation is an imperative.

The examination of different perspectives, using methods and knowledge provided by

multiple disciplines has the potential to decant new practices and working hypotheses for

each legal entity involved and, perhaps most importantly, an integrated picture of what is

usually analyzed separately.

The multitude of institutions and non-governmental organizations represented at the event

reflects awareness of the problem and the bending of governmental and nongovernmental

sphere towards counteracting this phenomenon.

The openness to collaboration and the improvement of strategies used was felt and the

evaluation questionnaires have revealed that this initiative has been well received.

Therefore the measurable outcomes expected have occurred, the expected results were meat

and the results were better than expected.

The organizers will keep facilitating the communication and collaboration and will proceed to

the editing of the toolkit meant to make the work of the specialists easier, to develop the

services offered and eventually to reduce the number of the trafficked victims. This way the

participants will better assimilate the information presented in the workshop, and the speakers

will be able to present also information which, because of lack of time, was not able to be

covered.