Ensuring better protection to beneficiaries of international protection victim of trafficking: EU project TRIPS has started!
Forum réfugiés-Cosi (FR-C) and its European partners, Churches’ Commission for Migrants in Europe (CCME), Immigrant Council of Ireland (ICI), Italian Council for Refugees (CIR), Organization for Aid to Refugees (OPU) are pleased to announce that the European Commission co-funded project TRIPS – identification of TRafficked beneficiairies of International Protection Special needs, has been officially launched.
TRIPS – identification of TRafficked beneficiairies of International Protection Special needs is a two-year project aiming at identifying and better addressing specific needs of beneficiaries of international protection victim of trafficking in human beings (THB) in relation to integration process, both at European Union (EU) and national levels. It will be implemented in France, Belgium, Ireland, Italy, and Czech Republic. This project follow a previous European project coordinated by Forum réfugiés-Cosi called TRACKS - identification of TRafficked Asylum seeKers’ Special needs, co-financed by the European Commission, implemented for two years and ended in January 2018.
The project is based on a common observation from the partnership that the international protection-THB nexus is raising growing concerns at EU, national and local levels, in particular in relation to the identification of victims of trafficking and the response to specific needs. After getting an international protection statute related or not to the THB situation, the victims get engaged in the integration process. The European Qualification Directive of December 2011 that came into force on 22 December 2013 grants specific rights to beneficiaries of international protection. It also specifies that when implementing the Directive, the Member States shall take into account the specific situation of vulnerable persons including the victims of human trafficking after an individual evaluation of their situation. However, the integration of beneficiaries of international protection leads to interconnected challenges which call for a comprehensive approach including access to rights, to housing, to training, to labor market, and psycho-social support. Considering that the identification, the protection and the integration of victims of THB are at the core of the European agenda, the link with international protection has been less addressed.
The project is about ensuring adapted support to victims of THB beneficiaries of international protection in their integration process taking into account their specific needs and their vulnerability situation, which do not stop after getting a protection. TRIPS aims at giving visibility and raising awareness of concerned actors as part of the integration mechanisms and process at European and national levels, as well as giving a voice to victims of THB to identify their specific needs in relation to integration procedures throughout the EU. The objective is also to improve the capacities of practitioners to identify and respond to specific needs of victims related to integration thanks to exchange of practices and the development of innovative tools. Finally, the project bring consistency and coherence throughout EU Member States in the way trafficked beneficiaries of protection are accompanied and supported.
TRIPS is notably implemented in association with l’Office français de protection des réfugiés et des apatrides (OFPRA), l’Office français de l’immigration et de l’intégration (OFII).
