Trafficking in Human Beings: Data Collection and Information Management (DCIM-EU)
Implementing Agencies: ICMPD, NEXUS Institute, Directorate General of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Internal Affairs of Portugal, Ministry of Interior of the Czech Republic, the Ministry of Interior of Poland and the Ministry of Interior of the Slovak Republic.
Geographic Scope: European Union (namely Czech Republic, Poland, Portugal and Slovakia)
Years: 2008-2009
Summary: Concrete, verifiable information is needed about all aspects of trafficking in persons. It is important to understand who are the victims of trafficking and the full gamut of their trafficking experiences – from trafficking routes to recruitment practices; causes of trafficking to experiences of trafficking; and experiences of identification and assistance. As importantly, much more needs to be known about traffickers themselves – who they are and how they operate – as well as how the legal and judicial efforts against traffickers are (and are not) functioning. Governments must play a central role in efforts to combat human trafficking and, as such, they require a broad range of information about trafficking victims and traffickers to continue with and bolster their policy and programmatic responses as well as to evaluate anti-trafficking interventions. This project sought to support government actors in the collection, management and, ultimately, the analysis of this very important data about trafficking in persons. This project was envisaged as a starting and upgrading point for data collection and information management in select EU countries, from both the victim and trafficker side. It built on the Data Collection and Information Management (DCIM) program implemented in ten countries in SEE in 2007 and 2008 and the related handbook: Handbook on Anti-Trafficking Data Collection in South Eastern Europe: Developing Regional Criteria, developed by the NEXUS Institute. The intention was not one standard model for data collection. Rather it was as a step in supporting the process of data collection and analysis on human trafficking within the European Union, which will necessarily vary in nature and scope from country to country.
- To offer the participating States a technical solution to collect THB Data by developing an innovative software and testing it in a pilot country;
- To create the basis for efficient data collection and analysis, involving relevant national institutions and NGOs working in the field of combating THB.
The DCIM-EU Project was generously funded under the EU Grant “Prevention of and Fight Against Crime” and implemented by the General Directorate for Internal Affairs, Ministry of Internal Affairs of Portugal, in co-operation with the International Centre for Migration Policy Development, ICMPD.
Project Publications and Studies:
Anti-Trafficking Data Collection and Information Management in the European Union – A Handbook (2009)
This handbook is intended for the government institutions responsible for the collection, analysis and presentation of victim-centered data and trafficker-centered criminal justice data. It provides the practical tools needed to collect the two data sets and provides an overview of the victim-centered and the trafficker-centered criminal justice data sets – including the range of information to be collected; standardized methodologies and data collection processes; and common terminology for collecting this information from a wide range of data sources. The handbook also aims to equip national data repositories with some basic skills in the collection, analysis and presentation/dissemination of data sets, in accordance with legal, security and ethical parameters at a national and EU level. The handbook offers guidelines to be adapted at a national level in response to the national context and individual country’s needs.