Regional dialogue and cooperation among countries of origin and destination in the Black Sea Region is one of the main strategic objective PHDS is addressing within its EU funded Program of cooperation in the Black Sea region in Area of Migration between Countries of Origin, Transit and Destination (Program), aiming to contribute to government efforts in combating human trafficking and irregular migration, protecting migrants from social exclusion and promoting their human rights. It is intended to enhance the capacities of both the government and civil society institutions in the countries of Black Sea region in dealing with current trends and consequences of global population movement phenomenon referring particularly to the issues of irregular migration and human trafficking.

 

One of the Strategic Goals of the Program is:

 

1)    Development of special advanced training programs for law enforcement officers and operation of the Training Center for law enforcement officers; and 2) Development of special training program for social workers and operation of the Training Center for social workers.

 

Given the interrelation between trafficking in human beings and irregular migration, it is expected that these actions will also contribute to better quality of services to members of vulnerable groups, potential and/or actual migrants and victims of trafficking.

 

The problem of irregular migration is compounded by the absence of capacities of various state and civil society stakeholders to prevent the phenomenon, to provide qualified services to victims of human trafficking, returned migrants and irregular migrants. In order to address the above situation it is necessary to enhance the capacities of both the law enforcement officers and social workers to address the needs of victims of human trafficking and social workers. This will form an essential basis for further improvement of respective institutions’ performance effectiveness in addressing the migration / trafficking related problems and meeting the needs of victims (potential victims). In this sense, by “building the capacities of the institutions concerned” the Program presumes enhancement of professional capacities of specialists from Black See countries dealing with migration / trafficking related issues through enriching their existing capacities with modern knowledge and experience including, particularly, the matters referring to internationally accepted approaches and standards in this area.

 

In many Black Sea countries, but also in EU countries, law enforcement bodies lack capacity to prosecute effectively criminal organizations involved in irregular migration/smuggling and trafficking in human beings, provide due assistance to victims, support their reintegration back to the society. Lack of professional training of law enforcement officers often leads to inadequate screening and identification of victims of human trafficking, increases the vulnerability of victims; they are charged with immigration violations, jailed and then expelled to their country of origin. This problem was addressed by strengthening the capacities of law enforcement agencies through development of special advanced training programs addressing different approaches of countries of Black Sea region and taking into account specific needs of these countries.

 

The training program conducted in May-June 2010 in Tbilisi, Georgia was held in two phases: through a distance learning course held by Russian legal expert Ms. Tatyana Kholshevnikova and the main training held in Tbilisi by professionals from Georgia, Russia and Estonia. 90 law enforcement officers from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine took part in the program mainly focusing on different aspects of child trafficking,   investigation technique for crimes of human trafficking and effective communication with the victim. The last day of the training program was devoted to RT meeting on migration management, facilitated by experts from Ukraine, Georgia and Kirgizstan, which was also a unique opportunity for the participants to acquire a better understanding of methods of state regulation of migration flows.

 

 

The feedback of the participants and their enthusiastic and active involvement in the training program overweighed the expectations of the management of Training Center. This program was a unique opportunity for the participants to establish contacts between professionals from different countries, as well as gain new skills and knowledge on specific issues in the area of concern. The report of the training program can be found here.

 

Training Program for Social workers

 

The special training program held for 90 social workers in October in Chakvi, Georgia, enriched by the knowledge and experience of European high-qualified experts in this area, built the capacities of social workers from the Black Sea region to support the smooth reintegration of the beneficiaries and provide them with high quality services.   Lack of professional and specific training for social workers results in low quality services delivered to direct beneficiaries of the project and this in its turn impacts the level of trust of the population at large towards the organizations in charge. Upon completion of the training courses the social workers from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine and Turkey acquired  professional capacities to better serve the victims of human trafficking/returnees/migrants in meeting their essential needs and ensure equal access to country social net including assistance and benefits stipulated by law (rehabilitation services, social/medical services, residence permits, due protection by law, material compensation etc.).

 

The training program was held in two phases: through a distance learning course held by Russian legal expert Ms. Tatyana Kholshevnikova and the main training held in Chakvi, Georgia by professionals from Georgia, Russia, Moldova, Ukraine and Estonia. The main training held in Tbilisi included such topics as:

-           Human trafficking and social work

-           Social work case management

-           Post-traumatic syndrome

-           Effective communication and social work

-           Psycho-technologies

-           Child trafficking

-           National referral mechanisms

-           Stress management

The training course was as well supported by various workshops and working meeting on trends of irregular migration in Black Sea region and cooperation of state and civil society institutions to fight human trafficking and irregular migration.

 

The efforts of the Training Center Management proved to be very effective and both the results and the feedback from participants and the trainers encouraged the PHDS staff to fundraise for conducting similar training programs for a wider group of participants.

 

You can find the training agenda here and the photos of the training course here gallery1 gallery2