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IHME project aims to strengthen expertise in anti-human trafficking work in Finland

Migri
Publication date 26.9.2017 13.45
Press release

Announcement by the Finnish Immigration Service and the Assistance System for Victims of Human Trafficking:

The Assistance System for Victims of Human Trafficking has begun a project (IHME) to improve the operational preconditions for anti-human trafficking efforts in Finland.

The aim of the project is to strengthen efforts to prevent human trafficking, and enhance expertise in identifying and helping victims and in the pre-trial investigation of human trafficking in Finland, while promoting the equal treatment of victims by public authorities.

The IHME project is seeking to promote anti-human trafficking work in three areas:

  • Training modules on the identification of human trafficking, victim assistance, and the pre-trial investigation of the phenomenon are being created for the pre-trial investigation authorities, which will receive practical training throughout Finland.
  • The key website providing information on human trafficking, , is being redesigned to better serve the needs of victims, the authorities and civil society.
  • A study is being conducted on child trafficking, on the basis of which two training seminars will be held on the theme.

The key content of the project is intended for the police and border guards

The police and border guards are pre-trial investigation authorities who encounter the phenomenon of human trafficking in their daily work and are responsible for conducting pre-trial investigations of possible cases of the crime.

The training is intended to increase the pre-trial investigation authorities’ chances of acting in time to combat the changing phenomenon of human trafficking. Its aim is to promote cooperation between public authorities, and between NGOs and public authorities, in the fight against human trafficking, while increasing the ability of pre-trial investigation authorities to guide human trafficking victims to the services intended for them. The training modules for pre-trial investigation authorities are being built in cooperation with the Police University College of Finland and the Border and Coast Guard Academy.

The http://www.humantrafficking.fi/in_english website will be comprehensively redesigned during the project. The redesign will be completed in 2018. In this, the aim is to develop the website so that potential victims can find help more easily than before. It will also make information and guidance, in support of anti-human trafficking work, more easily available to public authorities and civil society actors. Another objective of the project is to increase awareness of the website and make it more usable on various platforms and in fieldwork.

A study of child trafficking will chart the current situation concerning the phenomenon in Finland and comparable countries

There is a great need for a study of child trafficking, since very little information is currently available on the phenomenon in Finland. On the basis of the research, two thematic seminars will be arranged as part of the project. Participants in the seminars will be trained in the identification of child trafficking, assisting child victims and the children of adult victims of human trafficking, and in the pre-trial investigation processes related to child trafficking offences. The primary aim of the thematic seminars will be to increase the expertise of anti-human trafficking actors on child trafficking in Finland.

The IHME project, which aims to improve the operational preconditions for anti-human trafficking efforts in Finland, is receiving EU funding from the Internal Security Fund (ISF-P).

Additional information for the media:

Veikko Mäkelä, Project Manager, tel. +358 295 430 431, e-mail: veikko.makela@migri.fi

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