Students in Human Rights and Multi-level Governance participate in the OSCE Mediterranean Simulation on Combating Human Trafficking, Vicenza, 7-11 October 2024

From 7 to 11 October 2024, the Training Exercise with simulation for anti-trafficking practitioners from the Mediterranean region, created by the Office of the Special Representative and Coordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings of the OSCE (Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe), took place in Vicenza at the CoESPU (Centre of Excellence for Stability Police Units) premises.

During the Training Exercise, professionals coming from Italy, Malta, Spain, Algeria, Egypt and Tunisia and working in various fields related to trafficking of human beings (THB), like prosecutors, labour inspectors, social workers, criminal and financial investigators, lawyers, NGO workers and migration officers, came together and collaborated to solve various simulated complex human trafficking cases focused on labour and sexual exploitation.

These exercise trainings for anti-trafficking practitioners, promoted by the OSCE, use an innovative training method that aims to integrate practical simulations. This approach was developed by the OSCE between 2016 and 2021 in Vicenza, Italy, in cooperation with the Carabinieri Corps. Moreover, the simulations, designed and implemented over time, are based on an integrated approach that focuses on the trafficked person and his/her needs and aims at regional and multi-agency cooperation between the various actors responsible for combating human trafficking.

The collaboration between OSCE and the Human Rights Centre “A. Papisca” of Padova University, allows students to take part in the exercise. This year around 20 students from the Human Rights and Multilevel Governance master's programme took part in the simulation in the role of traffickers, trafficking victims or interpreters, and were able to observe and understand first-hand the cooperation between the various experts in the field aimed at the protection of victims.

Simulation-based trainings like this one, represent a fundamental instrument to improve the skills of the participating and partner States of OSCE to cooperate among each other to  identify and support potential victims of trafficking in human beings putting into practice a multi-agency, victim-centered, trauma-informed, gender-sensitive and human rights-based approach.

The initiative received financial support from France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Malta, Monaco, Switzerland, Italy, and the United States and was carried out in cooperation with the CoESPU of the Carabinieri, the National Anti-Trafficking Helpline, the SPGI Department of the University of Padova, the Human Rights Centre “A. Papisca” and the City of Vicenza.