Prevention and Extended Harmonized Data Collection System of Trafficking in Human Beings Project

The Ministry of Interior of the Slovak Republic, on the basis of the call for submitting the proposals for projects named “Action Grants” within the framework of the "Prevention and combating the crimes 2007 – 2013" program, submitted the Application for the Grant to the European Commission 2010 for the realization of the Project “Prevention and extended harmonized system for collecting data about trafficking with human beings”, focused to establish conditions permitting a systematic, coordinated and harmonized data collection about trafficking with human beings in the Slovak Republic and to increase the awareness of general public as well as representatives of particular professional state and non-state authorities in the area of trafficking with human beings, considering new forms of trafficking with human beings, especially forced labour. The Application for the Grant was approved for the Slovak Republic in 2011 and the Grant Agreement entered into force in April 2011, thus starting the implementation of project activities.
This project is the continuation of the pilot project “Trafficking with human beings: Data Collection and Harmonised Data Collection System management” implemented in 2009 by the Ministry of Interior
of the Slovak Republic in partnership with the International Centre for Migration Policy Development ICMPD, Czech Republic, Portugal and Poland bringing the set of harmonized indicators about victims and delinquents of trafficking with human beings summarised in the Guided named “Data collection and information management in the fight against trafficking with human beings in the European Union“.
The project aims at establishing conditions for systematic, coordinated and harmonized data collection on trafficking in Slovakia. Another objective is to enhance awareness among the public and representatives of selected professional public and non-governmental institutions of newly emerging forms of trafficking, including but not limited to labour exploitation.
Data collection mechanisms were established through development of a software application. Moreover, promotional campaigns involving various media, training activities, workshops and an international conference were carried out.
The activities should increase the number of calls to the National Helpline for Victims of Trafficking in Human Beings. Professional competences of the representatives of selected agencies focused on identification of trafficking for forced labour were enhanced thanks to training sessions.

The objective of the 18 month project was to create a unified and harmonized data collection system in order to increase the analytical capacities of all actors involved in the fight against trafficking in human beings at the national level. Another important objective of the project was awareness raising on trafficking in human beings and new forms of exploitation among both professionals and the general public by means of an information campaign and training sessions provided in the course of the project’s implementation.

The financial expenses are covered yearly from the budget of the Ministry of interior.

The concept of the information system could be reused in other EU Member States.

Only trained, authorized personnel of the various stakeholders who have access rights and competencies to work in this system approve access to the information system “Trafficking in human beings”.
Individual information and data on victims and perpetrators, cases, polls, outputs and press releases, reports are strictly recorded in this system, with back-control to prevent their undesirable leak and abuse through unauthorized interference and other incompetent persons.
Stakeholders in the fight against trafficking in human beings use statistical outputs only for operational purposes in adopting preventive and repressive measures. The project itself is evaluated very positively. There was the after-pool carried out in August 2012 evaluating objectively the success of the campaign "Without information, you may become a slave".

a) The first phase of the communication campaign was running through three-months broadcasting of TV and radio spot named “Without information you are becoming a Slave“. The TV and radio spot was broadcasted in the Slovak Radio and in regional stations of the Radio Regina, in the Slovak Television (STV1 and STV 2 at the time), Radio Expres, TV JOJ and TV Markíza during the months of October, November, December 2011.
b) For trainings to identify trafficking in human beings focused on forced labour there was cooperation with the Police Forces members, workers of Offices of labor, social affairs and family, labor inspectors and field social workers.

EU contribution (amount): EUR 118 913.55
Project was 80 % co financed from the Prevention of and Fight
against Crime Programme (2007—2013)

Prevention and Extended Harmonized Data Collection System of Trafficking in Human Beings Project. Accessed February 7,2017 http://www.minv.sk/?prevention
National program on the fight against human trafficking for the years 2011-2014

http://www.minv.sk/?prevention

Trafficking in human being is unfortunately still very relevant topic. Various criminal groups in Europe especially in the eastern and southeastern Europe use it as on the income sources. One of the means to prevent this is through various projects e.g. Prevention and Extended Harmonized Data Collection System of Trafficking in Human Beings Project. Since it had a various campaigns and tasks, it was aimed at various actors. “Without information, you may become a slave” — this aware¬ness-raising campaign about the national helpline and about the new forms of trafficking in human beings with an emphasis on forced work was focused mainly on the vulnerable youth and their parents. The project also involved training of relevant professionals (first line practitioners) to allow for victims identification. Information system ‘Trafficking in Human Beings’ was established with an aim to create conditions permitting a systematic, coordi¬nated and harmonized data collection on THB in Slovak Republic and to increase awareness among both the general public as well as representatives of selected professional public and non govern¬mental actors in the area of THB with regard to new forms of traf¬ficking, considering new forms of THB, especially forced labor.

The Information system permits authorized persons to perform the activities, which can effectively help investigators in their fight against THB
• Recording of data on victims
• Recording of data on perpetrators
• Recording of THB cases
• Data collection
• Connecting victims and perpetrators within cases
• Screening of victims, offenders and cases
• Generating and printing reports on victims, offenders and THB cases.
The technical prerequisites for sharing data on the level of interdepartmental connection of statistical and information systems in Slovak Republic or internationally were established as a part of the information system. From a technological point of view, the application runs on the technology with high availability, namely 24 hours, 7 days a week.
There were trainings running during May – June, 2012 for the target groups of the Police Forces members, workers of Offices of labour, social affairs and family, labour inspectors and field social workers. In total, there were 123 persons trained in 6 trainings. Within the training, the Guide named “Aspects of forced labour in the Slovak Republic” was presented, used and distributed. The main goal of the Guide was to expand the knowledge horizon of experts entering into contact with victims or delinquents of the crime of trafficking with human beings. Especially it was intended for policemen, labour inspectors, government officers, NGOs and others being confronted with the forced labour phenomenon during its work. The aim was to eliminate the phenomena decreasing the human dignity.

There was the after-pool carried out in August 2012 evaluating objectively the success of the campaign “Without information, you may become a slave”
The pool was carried out on the sample of 1,083 respondents in the age of 15 and more and was focused on five areas of questions:
• Associations with the phrase trafficking/trafficking with human beings,
• Identification of a phone number 0800 800 818,
• Associations with the slogan “Without information you are becoming a Slave”,
• Registering the media campaign,
• Experience with work abroad in the last four years.
These are the specific outputs from the project activities which have enhanced the Slovak fight in trafficking in human beings:
• THB data collection capacities (13 software users);
• THB data collection software adapted to the specific circumstances of the Slovak Republic;
• a media ad aimed at enhancing public awareness, including new forms of trafficking;
• a guide aimed at identifying victims of trafficking for the purpose of forced labour;
• promotional material highlighting new forms of THB and promot¬ing the National Helpline for Victims of Trafficking in Human Beings (leaflets and posters);
• training of relevant professionals to allow for victims identification (123 participants)
• an international conference to facilitate the exchange of best prac¬tices;
a report on the implementation of data collection software with recommendations;

A visual of the campaign and a radio and television spot titled “Without Information you Become a Slave” was created within a media campaign aimed at forced labour and promotion of the National Helpline for Victims of Human Trafficking 0800 800 818. As a result, there was increased number of calls to the National Helpline for Victims of Human Trafficking 0800 8800 818.
The members of the special police units have the access to the information system “Trafficking in Human Beings for the purposes of investigating cases of trafficking in human beings. The investigators can insert or gain information on cases, traffickers and victims of trafficking in human beings into the IS THB. From 2014 onwards, the statistical report on the crime of trafficking in human beings is processed based on the IS THB which is published on the website of the Ministry of the Interior.

The project itself has ended but the information system “Trafficking in Human Being” is active as well as the national helpline which do not need any major investments so far. As results of the awareness-raising campaign ‘Without informa¬tion, you may become a slave’, a CD with the TV spot was also produced and is now broadcast at the local Offices of Labour, Social Affairs and Family within the Slovak Republic through closed circuit tel¬evision channels.

The sponsor of the information system is the facility of the Ministry of Interior of the Slovak Republic, the Information Centre for combating the trafficking with human beings and crime prevention primarily involved in issues of trafficking with human beings.