The 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence is an annual international campaign that kicked off on 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and runs until 10 December, Human Rights Day.

Every year, the UNITE Campaign focuses on a specific theme and this year’s is “UNITE! Invest to prevent violence against women and girls”.The campaign calls on citizens to show how much they care about ending violence against women and girls by sharing the actions they are taking to create a world free from violence towards women. This year’s campaign also calls on governments worldwide to share how they are investing in gender-based violence prevention.

You can read the concept note here: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/2023-11/unite_concept_note_english.pdf

Keep an eye on our RENATE social media sites to find out more about the #16Days Campaign and how you can get involved!

A series of “study visit” meetings were recently held with 30 professionals from the Albanian child protection system in the Municipality of Tirana, to share the positive case management practices of children who require protection and empowerment services. These meetings highlighted some effective techniques, procedures, and ways of working for child protection workers, some of whom have years of experience working in the rural areas of the Municipality of Tirana.

These activities, carried out by SHKEJ, are a part of the ongoing project “Strengthening child protection structures at the local level in the rural areas of the Municipality of Tirana“, supported by the regional project “SMART Balkans – Civil Society for Common Values in the Balkans“, and implemented by Centar za promočnje členni društva (CPCD) in partnership with the Institute for Democracy and Mediation (IDM), the Center for Research and Policy Making (CRPM), and financially supported by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (NMFA).

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Last month, 27 students of Ishull High School gathered to attend an awareness raising event against human trafficking, organised by RENATE member Aferdita Gjoni. Local social services for Child Protection were also invited to the meeting to inform students regarding the protocols they should follow should they identify possible victims of human trafficking. These mechanisms were not only useful to the youth in situations of potential human trafficking, but also to report any other unusual activities or problems. At first, the students thought that human trafficking is a phenomena that doesn’t affect them, but when concrete stories of cases were shared with them, they changed their opinions. Special focus was made on the indicators of how to identify a potential human trafficking case, where to report it, and the mechanisms existing to support such cases.

Our heartiest congratulations and thanks to all who participated in this event, and to RENATE member Aferdita Gjoni for facilitating!

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On the 20^th October 2023, friends of RENATE Marina Pregernik and Ana Martinoviće held an educational workshop in two third grade classes of the Secondary Medical School, Sarajevo. Workshops were held for each class separately with a duration of 45 minutes. The educational workshops were interactive, with a short video at the beginning and a questionnaire that tried to examine the students’ current awareness of the topic of human trafficking. The students showed enviable knowledge and information about the mentioned topic already at the beginning. Through the workshop, an effort was made to deepen knowledge about the same and to make students aware that they should be careful when making new acquaintances or competing for certain jobs. The students took the topic of human trafficking very seriously and participated very actively in the implementation of the educational workshop. After the presentation, the students had to answer the questions of the test, which they did very successfully. The practical activity, started towards the end of the school hour, involved a recognition game based on the text the students received. The text would describe the situation of a certain person, on the basis of which the students should assess whether the person from the text is a victim of human trafficking or not. The students successfully completed the mentioned task and argued their answers very seriously and in accordance with what they learned through the educational workshop.

Our congratulations to all involved and our gratitude to Marina and Ana for their continued support with this project!

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Dear RENATE members!

Caritas Ukraine continues its preventive activities with focus on children and youth. Recently, Caritas undertook activities in schools, vocational schools and youth spaces, but also sometimes in shelters or basements when there is an air alarm in operation. These activities included trainings in the regions of Chernivtsi and Izmail on the risks of human trafficking, preventative work with teenagers in Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk region, and trainings in the shelters in Odessa.

Below, you will also find a newly recorded video from Odessa region about children’s understanding of human trafficking! It is in the Ukrainian language, but it is excellent!

Best regards from Ukraine!

Natalia

The Fondation Collège Universitaire Henry Dunant are hosting a new Webinar on Human Trafficking, part of a series hosted in light of the “Laudato Si” and of the “Fratelli Tutti” encyclicals.

This session will highlight challenges in human trafficking policy, legislation, investigation, and victim support services for male victims

How to watch:

1. To view this webinar, use your custom link: https://www.bigmarker.com/cuhd-coll-ge-universitaire/Challenges-and-Best-Practices-in-Human-Trafficking-Policy-Legislation-Investigation-and-Victim-Support-Services-for-male-victims?bmid=3955f2dbdbed&bmid_type=member

2. You’ll be able to enter the webinar up to 15 minutes before the scheduled start time.

3. System Requirements:
Please do a system requirements check here https://www.bigmarker.com/system_check

At the 2023 Parliament of the World’s Religions, The Interfaith Rainforest Initiative brought Indigenous leaders from the Amazon across the world to share an urgent plea to protect the Amazon Rainforest.

This assembly featured keynotes from some of the most prominent Indigenous leaders of the Amazon sharing the urgent call to protect the forest and the traditional knowledge of Indigenous peoples, as well as highlighting the vital role of multilateral interfaith action to support the critical and often dangerous work of the leaders of the Amazon.

For the first time, we are releasing this incredible event online for you to watch! As we prepare for COP28, the UN Climate Change conference taking place this December, we hope this plea reaches all of those gathered in Dubai who hold the fate of our planet in their hands. We urge our global leaders to hear this call to action and take concrete steps to protect the Amazon and its guardians.

Join via any of the following:

An Urgent Call to Protect the Amazon: IRI Dialogue with Indigenous Leaders | Facebook

(11) An Urgent Call to Protect the Amazon: IRI Dialogue with Indigenous Leaders – YouTube

*The Parliament of the World’s Religions is a founding partner of the Interfaith Rainforest Initiative (IRI), a United Nations Environment Programme-convened alliance that is bringing moral urgency and faith-based leadership to global efforts to halt and reverse tropical deforestation and protect the rights of indigenous peoples.

Ireland’s third national action plan to combat human trafficking has been launched by Justice Minister, Helen McEntee.

“The 40-page plan sets out a number of actions across government departments to work towards ending human trafficking in the State, including the establishment of a new national referral mechanism (NRM) to make it easier for victims to come forward, be identified and access support. “ – Irish Legal News

Read more and access the report here.

On the 2^nd November 2023, the organisation Different and Equal Albania, in collaboration with the General Directorate of State Police Anti-Trafficking Sector, conducted a training on Standard Action Procedures for Trafficking Victims/ Possible Victims of Trafficking. The training was held at the premises of the Security Academy with the participation of 18 police officers.