The overall goal of the initiative is to combat trafficking by strengthening municipalities’ preventive and protective work to combat trafficking in human beings in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and North-West Russia.
The specific goals of the CBSS-NCM initiative are to:
- Facilitate the implementation of the CBSS-developed guidelines for municipality work on counteracting trafficking in human beings in 8 municipalities in the Baltic countries and North-West Russia.
- Develop specific and sustainable implementation models in the participating municipalities that will also be relevant to the further dissemination among other municipalities in the participating countries.
- Improve preventive work in the selected municipalities specifically targeting the groups at risk to be trafficked.
- Create a platform for networking of experts at the local, national, and also regional level, who are engaged in combating trafficking in human beings. In this way the project will contribute to providing information and a know-how of different actors and their roles, responsibilities, capacities and abilities to identify and deal with cases of trafficking in human beings in the municipalities of the Baltic Sea Region.
- Build on existing strengths towards the enhanced role of the municipalities and improved cooperation at the local and national level to prevent human trafficking.
The direct target group of the initiative is national and local experts whose work is related to combating trafficking in human beings or who are in a position to identify actual or potential victims of trafficking in human beings (representatives of state institutions, staff of local councils, social workers, law enforcement officials, NGO representatives etc.) in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and North-West Russia.
The indirect target group is actual and presumed victims of trafficking in human beings and at-risk persons seeking to escape from potentially risky circumstances which may result in trafficking in human beings. As a long term result of the project, victims of human trafficking will be better protected and will receive adequate and professional assistance.
The general society of the municipalities will be also targeted through the prevention activities raising their awareness and knowledge about the risks of human trafficking.
Project are expected to begin in 1 May 2016 and end at the second part of 2017 (16 months).
Project is co-funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers (NCM), Swedish Institute (SI) and the Ministry of the Interior of Latvia.
