Twinning RO 06 IB JH 08
Note for the information of future Twinning stakeholders:
Please note that this fiche contains a 'Twinning' component and a 'Supply' component. The Twinning component consists of 3 different activities: A. Operationalization of the Research and Public Information Centre with the view of carrying out surveys, studies and research for the evaluation of the trafficking in persons phenomenon;B. Streamlining the prevention measures and increasing the awareness on national level regarding the risks of trafficking in persons for sexual and labour exploitation and C.Increasing the intervention capacity of the actors involved in the process of victim of trafficking identification, referral and assistance through providing quality multi-disciplinary services (see paragraph3.4)
The indicative budget for the Twinning component is € 0.643million (see paragraph5)
The indicative duration of the Twinning project is 12 months (see paragraph 7)
PROJECT FICHE
PHARE 2006
Improving the institutional capacity of the agencies involved in the prevention of trafficking in human beings in line with the current European standards and best practices.
INDEX OF CONTENT
1.Basic information...... 3
1.1.CRIS Number:...... 3
1.2.Title:...... 3
1.3.Sector:...... 3
1.4.Location:...... 3
1.5.Duration:...... 3
2.Objectives...... 3
2.1.Overall Objective:...... 3
2.2.Project purpose:...... 3
2.3.Accession Partnership (AP) and NPAA priority...... 3
2.4.Contribution to National Development Plan...... 4
2.5.Cross Border Impact...... 4
3.Description...... 4
3.1.Background and justification:...... 4
3.2.Sectoral rationale...... 6
3.3.Results...... 6
3.4.Activities (including Means)...... 8
3.5.Linked activities:
3.6.Lessons learned:
4.Institutional Framework
5.Detailed Budget
6.Implementation arrangements
6.1.Implementing Agency
6.2.Twinning
6.3.Non-standard aspects
6.4.Contracts
7.Implementation schedule
7.1.Start of tendering/call for proposals
7.2.Start of project activity
7.3.Project completion
8.Equal opportunity
9.Environment
10.Rates of return
11.Investment criteria
11.1.Catalytic effect
11.2.Co-financing
11.3.Additionality
11.4.Project readiness and size
11.5.Sustainability
11.6.Compliance with state aids provisions
12.Conditionality and sequencing
ANNEXES TO PROJECT FICHE
ANNEX 1 - LOGFRAME
ANNEX 2 - DETAILED TIME IMPLEMENTATION CHART
ANNEX 3 - CONTRACTING AND DISBURSEMENT SCHEDULE
ANNEX 4 -REFERENCE LIST OF RELEVANT LAWS AND REGULATIONS
ANNEX 5 - PROVISIONAL LIST OF EQUIPMENT…………………………...... 28
1.Basic information
1.1.Publication & Twinning Number:
1.2.Title:
Improving the institutional capacity of the agencies involved in the prevention of trafficking in human beings in line with the current European standards and best practices.
Sector:
Home Affairs
1.3.Location:
Romania
2.Objectives
2.1.Overall Objective:
To reduce the dimensions of the trafficking in persons phenomenon at the national and regional level through prevention and improvement of the integrated system of assistance services and social reinsertion of the victim.
2.2.Project purpose:
To operationalise andstrengthen the Romanian national integrated system for monitoring, evaluation and prevention of the trafficking in human beings, for identifying and referral of the victims and ensuring their protection and assistance in the view of their social reintegration.
2.3.Contribution to National Development Plan/ Cooperation agreement
Not applicable
3.Description
3.1 Background and justification
Considered to be a modern form of the “slave trade” and one of the most serious violations of the human rights, the trafficking in human beings has experienced an alarming evolution in the last years. This wide-ranging phenomenon has turned Romania into a transit country and, to a lesser extent, into a source and destination country for THB, as mentioned in the Monitoring Report of the European Commission on May 16, 2006.
Lately, important progress was registered in the field of combating the trafficking in human beings in Romania. Thus, in 2005, 235 traffickers were convicted, more than 100% increase over the 103 registered traffickers convicted in 2004; between October 2005 and May 2006, 10 networks were dismantled and 567 offences were registered, 94 arrests being carried out; moreover, 310 victims of the trafficking were identified.
Regarding the assistance provided to victims, in 2005, 175 victims were assisted in the specialized shelters (only 29 victims accepted to receive assistance in the governmental centres[1]), and between 1 January - 1 July , 2006,103 victims received assistance.
In what the field of prevention and victims’ assistance is concerned, more and relevant efforts are recommended. That’s why the Government of Romania, while taking into consideration by priority the issue of the trafficking in human beings, and according to principle 3.II. of EU plan on best practices, standards and procedures for combating and preventing trafficking inhuman beings (2005/C 311/01)which states that the Member States should develop an appropriategovernmental coordination structure to coordinate andevaluate national policies and ensure appropriate handlingof individuals, decided to set up the National Agency against Trafficking in Persons through the Governmental Decision no. 1584 of December 8, 2005 modified through Governmental Decision 1083/16 august 2006. It has as main responsibilities:
- to coordinate and evaluate the trafficking in human beings prevention activities on national level and to monitor the assistance provided to the victims of trafficking in human beings, pursuing the achievement of the objectives stipulated in the national action plans drawn up based on the national Strategy it elaborates taking into consideration the proposals submitted by the other ministries with responsibilities in this field;
- to collect, store, process and analyse statistical data and information in its field of
competence;
- to carry out surveys and research on the diagnosis and evolution of the trafficking
in human beings phenomenon;
- to support the information activity on the rights of the human beings – victims of the trafficking both within the country and abroad.
-to facilitate statistical data and information exchange between the institutions with attributions in the field, within the country and abroad;
-to submit proposals for the amendment and completion of the legislation in its field of activity;
-to disseminate, within the legal framework, data and information having official character in the field of prevention of trafficking in human beings and assistance provided to the victims of trafficking;
-to develop programmes with the view to the carrying out activities in the field of prevention and providing assistance to the victims of trafficking and to support, if requested, ongoing programmes;
-to carry out international cooperation activities in the field.
Currently, a national victims’ identification and referral mechanism is still not in place. These represent high priorities for the Agency, also a priority in the EU plan on best practices, standards and procedures for combating and preventing trafficking inhuman beings(principle 3.II)together withdrawing up quality standards for providing assistance to the victims and training the personnel involved in the prevention and monitoring the assistance activity. Thus, the problematic sectors of prevention, assistance provided to the victims and monitoring of the assistance lack the necessarymodern technical equipment and know-how.
So far, national surveys on the dimensions and trends in trafficking in human beings haven’t been drawn up, so immediate measures for carrying them out with the view of a better understanding of the phenomenon and providing an appropriate basis for the improvement of the strategies are required.
Also, the statistics show that most of the victims of trafficking come from environments with low employment opportunities and one of the factors is the lack of education and information. According to the statistics, the youngsters from the urban and especially, rural areas represent the most vulnerable population segment to trafficking, because they are in search for better jobs in other countries without being aware of the related risks. So far, all the prevention campaigns were incoherent and the message was inconsistent. Thus, a national prevention campaign for combating women discrimination and raising awareness on the risks of trafficking for sexual exploitation is imperatively necessary, and is in line with principles 3.V and 3.VI of the EU plan on best practices, standards and procedures for combating and preventing trafficking inhuman beings, stating that gender specific prevention strategies should be promoted.
Nevertheless, such a complex threat requires well-trained personnel able to identify the victims and provide them with effective assistance towards their social rehabilitation
The National Agency against Trafficking in Persons has started to operate effectively since the first term of 2006 and the financial and human resources aimed to reduce the trafficking phenomenon and to provide assistance to its victims are in progress of strengthening, so there is a need of technical assistance and counselling from experts coming from EU Member States with experience in the field of trafficking in persons, under all the priority aspects mentioned above.
Taking into consideration all the needs stated above, and the recommendations in the Monitoring Report and the other programmatic documents, the National Strategy on trafficking in persons 2006-2010, was drawn up in accordance with the EU plan on best practices, standards and procedures for combating and preventing trafficking in human beings.
Thus, the 2006-2007 Action Plan for the implementation of the National Strategy is focused on the victims’ rights, ensuring that they are fully protected at all stages in the process. The creation of an integrated IT system having at its core the centralized database on trafficking in human beings is the first objective set in the Action Plan and its accomplishment will facilitate and streamline the identification and referral of the victims on one hand and, on the other hand, through the various types of information and resources it will provide, will represent a powerful and valuable tool for the people involved in prevention and assistance activities. This system will collect information and data from the territorial Centres of the Agency, the General Inspectorate of Romanian Police, Romanian Border Police, governmental shelters, other Ministries with attributions in the field and NGOs. A model for such an IT system can be found in EU Member States like Netherlands or Great Britain.
Regarding relevant statistics on the identification, referral, protection, assistance and social reinsertion of the victims, a Research and Public Information Centre is going to be set up within the Agency and will have five members trained to carry out surveys, studies, regular reports on different aspects of the trafficking in persons phenomenon and will perform evaluations of the different activities of the Agency.
Moreover, the National Action Plan 2006-2007 (approved by Governmental Decision 1720/2006)(chapter onprotection, assistance and social reinsertion provided to the victims of trafficking in persons) stipulates putting in place the appropriate mechanism to enable the early identification and referral of trafficked persons. According to this Action Plan for implementing the National Strategy against Trafficking in Persons 2006-2010 and to the EU plan on best practices, standards and procedures for combating and preventing trafficking in human beings,NATPis the only institution responsible for drawing up thenational system for the identification and referral of the trafficking in persons victims.
The draft of the mechanism for victim identification and referral is already drawn-up by the Agency and will be approved by a Common Order of the Ministries with attributions in the field, by October 2007, thus having a compulsory character; Its provisions will have to be implemented by the personnel of the territorial centres of the Agency and also by the police, prosecutors, judges, specialists working directly with the victims and the representatives of local authorities.
In the same time, the Probation Department within the Ministry of Justice is implementing a project on the Transition Facility having as objective the elaboration of a common referral system and common minimum assistance standards for different institutions involved in victims’ protection; the Probation’s project under the Transition facility will produce a common referral system for victims of crimes except for the victims of trafficking; in this respect, NATP experts participate in Probation Department’s project in order to ensure that there is no interference or overlapping between the two projects.
3.2 Linked activities:
The following linked activities can be mentioned:
RO03/IB/JH/07-TL "Resource Centre for countering Trafficking in Human Beings" having the objective of strengthening the institutional and operational capacity of the General Directorate for Countering OrganizedCrime and Anti-Drugs within the Romanian Police Inspectorate General (RPIG) in the fight againsttrafficking in human beings. The project aimed to draw up the primary and secondary legislation on the operation of the Resource Centre, to create a database on trafficking in human beings, to train 48 persons in data collection and processing techniques and to deliver relevant IT equipment for data analysis and synthesis.
There is no overlap whatsoever with the Project RO03/IB/JH/07-TL "Resource Centre for countering Trafficking in Human Beings, since it is designed and operates as a resource centre on law enforcement, unlike the Research and Public Information Centre proposed under the present project which will act as a resource centre on trafficking in human beings prevention, protection, assistance and social reinsertion.
RO/2002/IB-JH-01(2002/000-586.04.14.01.03)- Twinning Covenant Upgrading the Romanian BorderPolice capability to fight against trans-border drugs traffic and human beings traffic; regarding fighting against trafficking in human beings, there were elaborated proposals for changing the Law no. 678; these proposals were introduced in the Government Ordinance of Urgency nr. 79/2005 for the modification and completion of the law 678/2001 regarding the trafficking in human beings, officially published July 19 2005.
3.3 Results:
I. Twinning Component
R. 1.
- The5 members of the Research and Public Information Centre trained to carry out national surveys, studies and research on trafficking in human beings phenomenon, to draw-up regular evaluations of the phenomenon and reports regarding the situation in Romania which shall be available to media, EU bodies and international organisations; trained also to evaluate different activities carried out by the Agency according to the Strategy and Action Plan (eg. campaigns); trained to train volunteers; trained to establish the relation with the victims in order to collect the information; research methodology;
- 15 members of the territorial Centres of the Agency trained in on carrying out surveys on trafficking in persons in line with European standards and best practices;
- National study for understanding the dimensions of the trafficking in children phenomenon published and disseminated;
- survey plan drawn-up;
- partners identified;
- 30 data collectors trained;
- 1200 questionnaires applied at national level;
- results from the questionnaires interpreted;
- survey published and disseminated;
- Handbook on carrying out surveys in the field of trafficking in persons, containing lessons learned from the national survey, drawn-up and disseminated;
- 17 members of the Research and Public Information Centre and of the territorial Centres trained in communication strategies with regard to trafficking in persons issues;
R.2.
- 4 members of the Agency trained in prevention programmes designing and implementation, prevention (information, awareness-raising) campaigns designing and implementation; creating and using volunteer networks for implementing campaigns;
- 15 persons from the Regional Centres trained in developing type of trafficking specific strategies, trained in developing gender specific prevention strategies, trained in developing prevention specific strategies for different environments: schools, high-schools, rural area, urban area or targeted for potential victims or demand, in developing public-private partnerships for preventing trafficking in persons;
- One guide for developing and implementing specific prevention strategies drawn-up;
- Campaign against discrimination and marginalization of women and for raising the awareness regarding sexual exploitation in women run at national level:
- assessment of the information needs and the target group identified on national level;
- campaign message and communication strategy created;
- campaign materials (flyers, posters, stickers etc.) designed
and produced;
- video spot produced and broadcasted;
- campaign message published in newspapers;
- materials disseminated, meetings, roundtables organized;
- impact assessment of the campaign;
- A handbook published on how to carry out and evaluate different types of prevention campaigns, based on the trainings received and the campaign carried out within the project and containing recommendations for future campaigns;
- 2 members of the Agency trained on effective management of structural or other EU funds used for addressing trafficking in persons, as national priority, for developing information-prevention programmes for vulnerable groups from rural environments or other disadvantaged environments;
R.3.
- 4 members of the Agency trained in identification and referral of the victims of trafficking, inter-agency cooperation, rehabilitation and reintegration of the victim; a first draft of the improved mechanism for identification and referral of the victims of trafficking circulated between the involved actors;
- A report of the MS experts issued on improvement of the identification and referral mechanism of the victims of trafficking in accordance with EU regulations and Member State best practices; final version of the improved mechanism for identification and referral;
- 17 members of the Agency and the territorial Centres trained on implementing the identification and referral mechanism, inter-agency cooperation and problem solving;
- 150representatives of the local authorities (prosecutors, police officers including rural police officers and proximity police officers, teachers, civil servants from local authorities, doctors, sociologists, or other specialists in contact with the victims, mass-media and NGOs)trained on identification and referral of the victims of trafficking, problem solving and inter-agency cooperation;
II. Supply component
- Research and Public Information Centre endowed with necessary equipment (PCs, laptops, memory sticks, projector and projection screen, scanner, photocopier, multifunctional printer, laser printers, software for statistics, according to the Annex) to produce regular reports, surveys, studies and research on the phenomenon, to produce materials for the various campaigns on national and local level (territorial centres), to function as a conference centre, provide informative materials in the field of trafficking in persons to the general public.
- IT system endowed with technical equipment.
3.4. Activities (including Means)
I.Twinning Component
A Operationalization of the Research and Public Information Centre with the view of carrying out surveys, studies and research for the evaluation of the trafficking in persons phenomenon. 22 working days, 4 MSE; 90, 688 eur