• Welcome to the HELP course on Combating trafficking in Human Beings

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    This free online course has been developed by the European Programme for Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals “HELP” of the Council of Europe, using the HELP methodology.

    The trafficking of human beings is a serious crime, representing a grave violation of human rights and an attack on the fundamental values of a democratic society. Affecting thousands of victims every year, trafficking treats human beings as a commodity to be bought, sold, and subjected to forced labour. While most identified victims of trafficking are women, men too can be victims. Furthermore, many of the victims are children.

    This course looks at the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings. In addition to the criminalisation of trafficking, the Convention places positive obligations on states to put in place effective measures to prevent human trafficking, to protect the rights of victims of human trafficking, and to engage in international co-operation and co-operation with civil society to these ends. Additionally, the course explores the case law of the European Court of Human Rights as well as other international legal instruments and national good practices, focussing on the protection of the victims of human trafficking.

    The course explores topics in a practical way through presentations, interactive screens, knowledge tests and reflective exercises. It is designed to equip practitioners with the ability to effectively apply the standards developed under the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (the CoE Convention) in their daily work.

    The course consists of 11 substantive modules and a Welcome and Introduction module: 

    1. Introduction and legal framework: the human trafficking problem, the Council of Europe response, the CoE Convention and its monitoring. 

    2. Definitions and legal concepts: the definitions and legal concepts contained in the CoE Convention and other relevant international instruments. 

    3. Identification of victims: the importance of victims’ identification, the States’ duty to identify victims, the cooperation with NGOs in victims’ identification. 

    4. Assistance to victims of human trafficking in human beings: rights of victims to assistance and support and the related States’ obligations, the effects of trauma and victimisation on the physical and mental health of victims, minimum standards of care that States must provide to the victims, right to recovery/reflection period and the rules for its application, minimum conditions for granting a temporary residence status to victims of trafficking. 

    5. The non-punishment principle:  the legal nature and scope of the non-punishment principle, the difference of its application to children’s cases and to adult cases, the meaning of compulsion, States’ obligations to apply the principle. 

    6. Investigation, prosecutions and victims’ rights: the peculiarity of investigation and prosecution in human trafficking cases, the relevance of the protection and assistance of victims and witnesses, the relevance of seizing and securing assets from the outset.

    7. Sentencing:  criteria that should be taken into consideration when deciding on the severity of sanctions: retribution, general prevention, special prevention and reparation. 

    8. Compensation:  the relevance of compensation in human trafficking cases, the material and immaterial damages covered by compensation, the source of compensation (the perpetrator or the State).

    9. The rights to international protection, return and repatriation of victims of trafficking:  international standards, safe, dignified and preferably voluntary return, requirements for returning child victims, the non-refoulement principle.

    10. Technology and human trafficking: Exploring the multifaceted role of technology in human trafficking, including its impact on victim recruitment and exploitation, its potential to aid THB victims through initiatives, and its application in supporting investigations of THB cases.

    11. Trafficking of human beings for the purpose of labour exploitation: Exploring the legal framework and key processes in addressing trafficking for labor exploitation, including the definition of offenses, involvement of key actors, challenges in victim identification, victims' rights, and available remedies throughout investigations and trials.

    For more information, please access the COURSE BRIEF.

    Please click on the SCORM package below to launch the course in English, or on the language codes below for the other available languages. 

    2024 Edition: eng 

    2017 Edition: ara | bos | ces | kat | mkd | mne | ron | spa | slk | srp | rus | tur | ukr | uzb

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