By Emma Makey, Project Assistant, Parliamentarians Against Human Trafficking
The third event of the Parliamentarians Against Human Trafficking project was held last Thursday, 22 March 2012, in the Italian Parliament, Rome. Hosted by the Italian Senate, the seminar provided a forum for
parliamentarians from across Europe to meet with NGOs, law enforcement representatives and experts on human trafficking to discuss anti trafficking legislation on protection of victims.
The meeting was attended by parliamentarians from the UK, Cyprus, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and Spain, together with their counterparts from Italy.
The meeting kicked off with a welcome address from Senator Filippo Berselli, Chairman of the Italian Senate Justice Commission. Senator Berselli was then joined by Anthony Steen, Chairman of the Human Trafficking Foundation.
Then followed a series of keynote speeches from key figures involved in the formulation and enforcement of anti-trafficking legislation in Italy. Corrado Lembo, Deputy Prosecutor from the Court of Santa Maria Capua Vetere, provided a presentation for participants on Italian legislation relation to identification, protection and assistance of victims of trafficking. Giusto Sciacchitano, Deputy Prosecutor from the National Anti-Mafia Office, then discussed international collaboration in protection and assistance to victims of trafficking. Finally, Senator Alberto Maritati provided a presentation on anti-trafficking legislation in Italy.
We were delighted by the attendance of Senator Renato Schifani, Speaker of the Italian Senate, who addressed the seminar to commend the work being done across Europe to tackle human trafficking.
After a short break, Baroness Butler Sloss chaired a ‘countries overview’ session, providing parliamentarians from Cyprus, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Spain and the UK to share their
experiences of tackling human trafficking and to provide an update on work done in their countries since January’s seminar in The Hague.
After lunch hosted by Senator Maritati, the afternoon session (chaired by Baerbel Uhl, EU Experts Group) provided participants with the opportunity to hear detailed case studies on victim protection by Anna
Bonifazi, Senior Officer from the Carabinieri, and Maria Pia Vigilante, Chair of ‘La Giraffa’ NGO. The seminar was concluded by Stana Buchowska, Project Co-ordinator.
We look forward to the next event of the project, a seminar of the National Referral Mechanism, which will take place in the Polish Parliament on Wednesday 18 April 2012.
