Conference on trafficking in human beings in the Nordic countries and Baltic States
A conference dedicated to the fight against human trafficking will be held in the Riigikogu on 10 & 11 November 2016. On the first day of the conference, experts will be outlining the measures taken in the Nordic countries and Baltic States in the fight against human trafficking. On the second day, experts and parliamentary representatives will be discussing the challenges faced in the fight against human trafficking.
The Nordic Council of Ministers has been involved in the shared fight against human trafficking in the Nordic countries and Baltic States since the early 2000s. It has been one of the priorities of the partnership between the Ministers of Justice of the Nordic countries and Baltic States since 2014. Over the years , the Nordic Council of Ministers’ Office in Estonia has contributed to the training and networking of specialists who deal with cross-border crime via seminars, conferences and other events designed for experts. The ‘Human Trafficking in the Nordic Countries and Baltic States’ conference forms part of the Nordic Council of Ministers’ programme for 2015-2018, whose aims in the fight against human trafficking are both prevention and dealing with consequences. The programme is also designed to coordinate the use of the Nordic countries’ resources and to work closely with neighbouring countries. Information about the other events taking place as part of the programme can be found online at www.norden.org.
The conference will be opened by Jānis Vucāns, the president of the Baltic Assembly. Challenges and efforts in fighting against human trafficking at different levels will be presented by Myria Vassiliadou, coordinator of the fight against human trafficking with the European Commission; Thomas Stritzl, a member of the German Federal Parliament and the Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference Rapporteur on Trafficking in Human Beings; Finnish MP Eva Biaudet, who has been involved in the fight against human trafficking in her career as Minister of Health and Social Services and as the OSCE Special Representative on Combating Trafficking in Human Beings; and former Minister of Social Affairs of Estonia and current member of the Social Affairs Committee Helmen Kütt.
The conference is an invitation-only event for experts dealing with the fight against human trafficking (officials, representatives of law enforcement agencies, representatives of international organisations, researchers and representatives of non-profit organisations) and parliamentary representatives.
The presentations and discussions on 10 November will be in English. Those on 11 November will be in English and Russian (with simultaneous interpreting).
The conference is being organised by the Nordic Council of Ministers’ Office in Estonia and the Baltic Assembly.
The conference programme can be found online at www.norden.ee.
The Conference is a part of the Nordic Council of Ministers’ Project: “Platform for Network and Knowledge Exchange between Nordic-Baltic Countries and North-West Russia” and includes also the following forums, expert seminar and visit:
- Expert Forum on Protection of Victims of Human Trafficking, 10 & 11 May 2017 in Estonia
- Human Trafficking with a Focus on Media
- Study visit to NORDICOM, March 2017
- Expert seminar in Lithuania, autumn 2017 - A Forum on Corporate Responsibility of Businesses: Prevention of Labor Exploitation, 2018 in Latvia.