Hungary hosts Trafficking in Human Beings course

On 9-13 April 2012 the MoI International Training Centre in Budapest, Hungary, hosted CEPOL course 01/2012 “Trafficking in Human Beings”. The course, organised by the Hungarian CEPOL Unit, attracted a near capacity audience of twenty six participants from eighteen different Member States.

The aim of the course was to increase participants’ knowledge of different European police systems and instruments of cooperation as well as enhance their knowledge of instruments and techniques in the fight against THB. Improving participants’ capacity to handle victims and improving their ability to appraise THB investigative methods and techniques were tasks also included in the course’s objectives.

Particular attention was given to the following aspects:

• The European legal background of trafficking in human beings
• The international and European law enforcement Agencies and NGOs involved in the fight against this type of crime
• Best practice in THB investigations focusing on intelligence and evidence gathering
• Handling of victims during the criminal process,
• Different methods of international cooperation, analysing the current situation of THB in Europe, based on OCTA
• Europol, Eurojust and Interpol

Much of the course’s success derived from the valued support from The Netherlands, France, Switzerland and Europol.

At the end of the four day course, a satisfied participant said: “All the information provided helped me to understand the situation across the whole of Europe, not only in actions against THB but also knowledge useful in every investigation against organised crime.” Another participant added: "The experience and expertise shared by the trainers and experts was high ranked from my point of view. The administrative group was always at hand and responded very quickly and efficiently to our requests.”

Thanks to the Learning Management System (LMS) within CEPOL’s e-Net, all of the the presentations given over the four days can be read and discussed. One participant wrote: "International Police Cooperation nowadays means networking or to be more precise, it means e-networking in a safe, secure and fruitful (efficient) manner. We shared knowledge and opinions and enjoyed it so much that we also shared our spare time to exchange opinions.”