The Project

Objectives

• Strenghten Romanian and Bulgarian lawyers legal knowledge, cooperation with prosecutors and judges to protect victims of human trafficking rights in the judicial proceedings according with EU normative acts.
• Enhance knowledge upon different legal systems among member states (Romania-Bulgaria-Sweden-Germany).

Results

• Increased number of specialized Romanian and Bulgarian lawyers able to protect victims of human trafficking rights in the judicial criminal proceedings, in accordance with EU legal standards, capable to correlate the EU legal provisions with the national ones.
• The national capacities in Romania and Bulgaria to train and retrain lawyers are strengthened. Romanian and Bulgarian trainers able to deliver interactive legal trainings by using a blended learning process, act also as mentors providing guidance for their peers.
• Increased number of lawyers equipped with necessary knowledge on the ECtHR procedures in cases in which victims’ rights were violated by the national legal authorities (learn to develop appropriate legal arguments in ECtHR cases).
• Improved core legal practitioners’ skills (including the ability to prepare, manage cases or legal arguments both orally and in writing in courts proceedings; capacity to identify the relevant EU legal instruments that can be invoked in THB cases).
• Increased knowledge on the use of legal terminology in national languages and in an international language such as English.
• Enhanced collaboration, networking among lawyers-prosecutors – judges as result of common involvement in the blended learning process.
• Consolidated knowledge upon partners’ legal systems, practical experienced shared, identification of best practices from the German and Swedish legal systems that can be transferred into the Romanian and Bulgarian ones.
• Increased knowledge of e-learning tools, interactive legal training techniques.

Activities

• Train the trainers in Germany and Sweden (provide to a group of Romanian and Bulgarian legal professionals with the appropriate competencies that will enable them to affectively facilitate knowledge acquisition and skills, in delivering quality dynamic trainings for further legal professionals in their countries)
• Develop program and materials for the blended learning process (prior-trainings assessment of the legal needs of participants; elaborate legal practitioners manual)
• Implement the blended learning process (organize trainings in Romania and Bulgaria, use of the e-learning platform where legal professionals can find legislation and models of defence strategies to protect victims of human trafficking rights in the judicial proceedings)

Legal Topics to be approached as part of the blended learning process:

• International and European key instruments in fight against human trafficking.
• Victims’ rights during the judicial procedures. Special legal provisions at EU level regarding victims as injured parties and witnesses in relation with human trafficking and other related crimes (e.g. pimping, forced begging). Comparison between the Romanian-Bulgarian-German-Swedish legal systems: analyse and identification of best practices, on how the victims’ rights are protected in the German and Swedish legal systems and practice (analyse case laws involving adult and minor victims), that can be transferred into the Romanian and Bulgarian systems. Analyse the conformity of the national provisions with the EU ones such as the Directive 2012/29/EU establishing minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime.
• Procedural rights in criminal proceedings.
• Compensation for material and moral damages suffered by the victims of human trafficking, trafficking of minors and of related offences. Analyse case laws from the German, Swedish, Romanian and Bulgarian jurisprudence. Analyse the compliance of national court decisions with EU provisions such as the Council Directive2004/80/EC relating to compensation to crime victims.
• Relevant ECtHR decisions in relation with protection of victims of human trafficking rights.
• Cooperation and communication process between victims’ lawyer-prosecutor-judge during the criminal trial. Case studies based on the German and Swedish cooperation and communication process among lawyers-prosecutors-judges.
• Mutual legal assistance for victims of trafficking (adults and minors) in relation with proceedings taken place in both origin and destination countries. Analyse the compliance of national legal framework with the EU provisions.
• A Compedium of legal expressions, terms in English frequently used in European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) decisions and their equivalent in Romanian and Bulgarian languages. It will help RO and BG legal practitioners to develop their linguistic abilities reading and understanding directly in English relevant aspects from ECtHR cases. As it is known most of ECtHR decisions can be found in English and without strong linguistic abilities in this foreign language is quite challenging for legal professionals who are not proficient to understand the meaning of all the legal terms.