August 2023 – The NEXUS Institute and Regional Support Office of the Bali Process (RSO) have just published a Practitioner Guide Series on trafficking victim protection to support the work of anti-trafficking practitioners in Asia. The series provides easy access to high quality research and guidance on different aspects of victim protection that practitioners can use in their daily work. The Practitioner Guides focus on: trafficking victim identification, trafficking victim protection and support, recovery and reintegration of trafficking victims, special and additional measures for child trafficking victims, special and additional measures for victim-witnesses, and access to remedies.

David Scott, RSO Co-Manager (Australia) highlighted the value of the guides to practitioners: “These guides provide tools and tips to help practitioners who are working with trafficking victims, ensuring they are not further victimised, to ensure victims can have their voices heard, and to give them the best chance to rebuild their lives. With trafficking a challenge faced by all Bali Process Member States—as source, transit and destination countries—these guides can also play a role in supporting policy development, national action plans on combatting trafficking in persons and expanding internal governmental capacity building endeavors”.

Rebecca Surtees, Senior Researcher, NEXUS Institute said: “At the heart of all of our work on anti-trafficking is and must be the experiences, perspectives and need of trafficking victims themselves. Learning from and listening to trafficking victims – of all genders, ages, nationalities and experiences – is key in ensuring that victim protection responses are victim-sensitive and trauma informed. These practitioner guides put this vital information into the hands of practitioners and offer concrete guidance on how to move forward with their vital and life saving work. Our intention in preparing these practitioner guides is to support and enhance the work of practitioners who are on the frontline of efforts to identify, protect, assist and reintegrate trafficking victims in ASEAN and Bali Process Member States. We are grateful for their work and commitment”.

The Guides are available in English, Bahasa Indonesian, Malaysian, Vietnamese, and Thai.