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Trafficking in Human Beings and Corruption. Report on the Regional Seminar, Portoroz, Slovenia (19 - 22 June 2002)

Document number
1296
Date
2002
Title
Trafficking in Human Beings and Corruption. Report on the Regional Seminar, Portoroz, Slovenia (19 - 22 June 2002)
Author/publisher
Economic Crime Division, Directorate General I -Legal Affairs, Programme against Corruption and Organised Crime in South-Eastern Europe (PACO)
Availability
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Document type(s)
Meeting Documentation/Conference Reports,
Summary
In 2001 the Council of Europe launched the “PACO Networking” project as an activity under the PACO Programme against Corruption and Organised Crime in South-eastern Europe. In the course of two regional seminars, contact points and officials responsible for mutual legal assistance from ten countries of South-eastern Europe initiated networking among themselves, and identified measures to make cooperation more efficient. Among the problems South -eastern Europe is faced with, the trafficking in human beings is receiving particular attention. Trafficking is both an issue of human rights violations and of organised crime. It requires efficient cooperation within countries and across borders at all levels. The seminar brought together more than one hundred judicial and law enforcement officials and representatives of NGOs dealing with anti-trafficking and anti-corruption issues from ten South -eastern European countries, as well as experts of the Council of Europe3 and representatives of other institutions and international organisations. The seminar was divided into two main parts: 1) On the first day of the seminar, the draft cooperation manual was finalised by contact points for judicial cooperation, that is officials mainly from the Ministries of Justice and the Prosecution Service. The manual is intended to be a practical tool for those involved in judicial cooperation. 2) On the second, third and fourth day of the seminar, all other participants joined in on the question of trafficking in human beings and related problems of judicial cooperation and corruption. While the cooperation manual will be published as a separate document and will be made available on the internet, the present report will focus on the question of judicial cooperation against trafficking in human beings and corruption. It summarises the discussions and the information received before and during the seminar as well as the recommendations prepared by participants.
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