Interlic.md

Azerbaijan and Moldova are among the countries to benefit from the EU’s new €1.5 million initiative that will help boost the fight against organised crime and human trafficking. A press release said the new innovative pilot project in Azerbaijan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Moldova and Turkey would help countries to be better equipped to deal with human trafficking and promote regional cooperation on this issue through sharing information and best practice between countries and regions.
 
The project will aim to:  improve systems of data collection, analysis and exchange at the national and transnational level to increase the knowledge on the scale and nature of trafficking in human beings; promote and assist in information sharing and regional coordination on trafficking in human beings; enhance national and transnational law enforcement cooperation and the capacity of prosecutors, consular and non-governmental organisations' staff to address the crime of trafficking in human beings more efficiently.
 
Launching the project, EU Neighbourhood Policy Commissioner Štefan Füle said: "We are determined to do all we can to work across borders and nations to bring an end to this evil activity of trafficking people wherever it takes place."
 
"Organised crime is a virus that knows no borders,” Development Commissioner Andris Piebalgs said, “so the remedy must also strike across borders not only to protect the victims, but also EU citizens."
 
Cecilia Malmström, Commissioner for Home Affairs, said the EU should work with partner countries and organisations “to provide a strong and unequivocal response to this fundamental violation of human rights."
 
The project, funded under the EU’s Instrument for Stability, is a first pilot phase, to be followed by a second phase that would consolidate its results and broaden the scope by addressing not only law enforcement, but also assistance and protection of victims. More countries are also expected to join the project in the second phase.