Funded by the Justice Programme of the European Union

1. Funded by the Justice Programme of the European Union Strengthening multidisciplinary cooperation to ensure an effective referral, assistance, rights protection for victims of human trafficking JUST/2015/JACC/AG/VICT/9221 FINAL CONFERENCE 29 -30 November 2018 Brussels Belgium Miriana Ilcheva, Center for the Study of Democracy This publication has been produced with the financial support of the Justice Programme of the European Union. The contents of the publication are the sole responsibility of the author and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Commission.

2. The importance of having Legal Assistance Monitoring and Evaluation Committee • Right to (information about) legal aid – primary entitlement under the 2012 Victims’ Directive • Legal aid providers – often lacking specialized skills to deal with victims’ trauma and complexities of human trafficking cases • Lacunae in the intersections between legal frameworks – human trafficking, legal aid, criminal justice, foreigners… • Lack of co-ordination, scarce monitoring and evaluation

3. Structure of Committee • Authorities managing legal aid • Representatives of local bars • Authorities in charge of criminal proceedings • Anti-trafficking agencies • Agencies dealing with gender-based violence • Asylum and migration authorities and NGOs • NGOs providing victim support services

4. Management and decision making of Committee • Subordination chain or a separate independent structure - various types of structure and mechanisms for taking decisions • Collective interinstitutional body • Ordinary or qualified majority • Binding power of decisions - on legislative level and/or by a joint memorandum/monitoring and evaluation mechanism • Sessions once or twice a year • Specially designated permanent administration or officers seconded from/combining functions in other authorities

5. Responsibilities of Committee • Coordinating services providing legal aid • Training lawyers providing legal services to victims of trafficking • Statistics on the practical implementation of legal aid to victims (how many victims, how many hours of legal aid, per how many cases, at which procedural stage, and other indicators) and on the client satisfaction with legal services provided - tools for client satisfaction surveying • Monitoring - statistics gathered but also pro-active methods like monitoring and site visits, trial monitoring, etc. • Annual report, with possible subsequent submission to the respective state’s Council of Ministers/Ministry of Justice

6. Transnational co-operation • Contact points via which other Member States’ officials can quickly and easily contact their respective counterparts and react promptly and efficiently on a concrete case • Use existing judicial and lawyers’ cooperation mechanisms to form a network of monitoring and evaluation committees – exchange of data and common strategies • Common transnational trainingsfor legal aid providers and responsible authorities

7. Recommendations • On a legislative level, monitoring and evaluation of legal aid - included as a primary task both for legal aid and anti-trafficking (interinstitutional) managing bodies, both in primary and secondary legislation, as well as (interinstitutional) referral mechanisms. • On a policy level, institutional engagement with periodically evaluating legal aid should be strengthened by emphasizing this component in relevant strategy documents and action plans • On a practical level, formal and informal links between anti-trafficking and legal aid agencies, as well as service providing NGOs to create Legal Assistance Monitoring and Evaluation Committee. Potential of (EU funded) projects and other initiatives duly used.

8. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION! QUESTIONS? Miriana Ilcheva, Center for the Study of Democracy miriana.Ilcheva@online.bg