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Neila Baumilienė, Director of the Kazickas Family Foundation (New York) organized a meeting on combatting Trafficking in Human Beings (THB) at the Kazickas Family Residence in Vilnius Friday afternoon.
Representatives of the Lithuanian Ministry of Social Security and Labour, the senior advisor to the Ombudsman for Children's Rights, Caritas, the "Basketball Power" NGO, and the Embassies of the US, UK, and the Netherlands discussed options to cooperate more closely in the fight against THB.
Coordination of efforts seems to be the key word for success: by following the "three P's"-approach (Prevention-Prosecution-Protection), much can be achieved.
According to the American 2016 TIP Report*, "(t)he Government of Lithuania fully meets the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking."
The report recommended that Lithuania should "increase funding for NGOs to provide sustainable victim protection; provide systematic, effective training for all police officers on the identifcation, referral, and appropriate treatment of victims, including by integrating an anti-trafficking module into the basic training for the police; establish a formal inter- ministerial committee with NGO representation to coordinate whole-of-government anti-trafficking efforts (..)"
Options were discussed for international cooperation between source and destination countries, building effective networks between Ministries of Interior, Justice, Social Affairs, Public Prosecutors, Judiciary, Ombudsmen, Police, NGOs, and Embassies, i.a. In short, a network of Partnerships, also known as the 'missing P' **
* www.state.gov/documents/organization/258880.pdf
** www.pennstatelawreview.org/…/117-2-Article_Sheldon-Sherman.…