On EU Anti-Trafficking Day, Executive Director highlights the importance of training

On EU Anti-trafficking day, CEPOL Executive Director, Montserrat Marín López reiterated the agency’s commitment to support the fight against Trafficking in Human Beings (THB) by offering EU law enforcement officials specialised training opportunities to enhance their knowledge and skills:

This day reminds us that human trafficking is a scourge that continues to be present in the EU and beyond, particularly so when traffickers have at their disposal numerous digital tools that facilitate them in their wrongdoings. We reiterate our commitment to fight human trafficking and protect the victims.

‘Our aim is to provide law enforcement officials with new, innovative and multi-layered learning solutions that help them stay ahead of this heinous crime. In this fight, our course participants are one of our strongest assets. By becoming part of a network of specialised THB professionals with a shared EU law enforcement culture, they can work more efficiently together beyond borders. We also count on their support to multiply the outreach of CEPOL’s training, by sharing their newly gained knowledge and skills with their colleagues in their home countries’, she added.

Trafficking in human beings (THB) is one of the 10 main priorities of the EU Multidisciplinary Platform Against Criminal Threats (EMPACT) 2022-2025 cycle. The CEPOL EU Strategic Training Needs Assessment (EU-STNA) See EU-STNA page 39 recognises the importance of training at EU-level to combat trafficking in human beings and underlines that acquiring knowledge about the crime patterns of human trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation, labour exploitation and forced criminality constitutes the highest training priority.

The report also notes that in order to be effective, law enforcement officials need training on the use of digital tools and new technology for investigation. According to the findings of the EU-STNA, cross-border cooperation is paramount and more training is required on EU and international cooperation tools and mechanisms. Furthermore, to enhance cooperation at national level, especially with labour authorities, training for law enforcement officials should also involve labour inspectors and civil registrars.

Combatting human trafficking constitutes an important training priority in CEPOL’s portfolio. Training facilitates communication between all parties and encourages joint actions. Sharing best practices among participants, encouraging the building of networks and further cooperation between countries of origin, transit and destination constitute an integral part of the CEPOL THB learning programmes.  The first-ever blended learning activity organised by CEPOL earlier this year, covered Trafficking in human beings for the purpose of sexual exploitation in the digital age. It aimed to enhance the knowledge and skills on the detection and the investigation of cases of sexual exploitation committed by Organised Crime Groups (OCGs) using the Internet, as well as on the identification and the protection of the victims.  It was made up of three training activities that were built on each other, in a step-by-step approach.

To mark EU Anti-Trafficking Day on 18 October 2023, with the strong cooperation and support of the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights, the European Labour Authority and Europol, CEPOL organised two webinars dedicated to the topic of labour exploitation:

• 3079/2023/WEB 'Identifying and protecting victims of labour exploitation, to improve the effectiveness of law enforcement officials in combatting labour exploitation of EU and non-EU migrants.
• 3040/2023/WEB 'Cooperation between labour and law enforcement authorities on tackling labour exploitation, to help promote and share good practices, and summarise the EU intelligence picture, modus operandi and new trends regarding labour exploitation.

The above webinars, are also part of the 2^nd CEPOL Blended Learning Programme on THB which focuses on the exploitation of victims in different workplaces, are thus directly linked to the upcoming CEPOL onsite activity 08/2023/ONS: Trafficking in human beings - labour exploitation that will take place in Cyprus from 13-17 November. Both webinars will be made available in recorded format for registered users of CEPOL’s Law Enforcement Education Platform, LEEd.

Among others, the following recorded webinars on THB are currently available in LEEd:

• 3039/2023/WEB 'The use of social media in human trafficking investigations'
• Webinar 3011/2022: Adult service websites as enablers of sexual exploitation
• Webinar 3012/2022: Chinese criminal networks engaged in human trafficking in the EU
• 3082/2022/WEB 'INVISIBLE CHILDREN: Identifying and responding to children victims of trafficking in the context of the Ukrainian crisis'
• Webinar 3079/2022: Preventing and detecting trafficking in human beings affecting people fleeing from Ukraine

Furthermore, in September 2023 CEPOL launched an Operational Training Needs Analysis on Trafficking in Human Beings. The report with the findings of this analysis will be published in 2024.

Find out all about CEPOL’s activities on THB here.

More information on the work of the EU to combat human trafficking is available on the dedicated webpages of the European Commission-Directorate General for Migration and Home Affairs and the EU Council.