Council of Europe COVID-19 Project
COVID-19 Project for victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation
The COVID 19 pandemic not only has a massive impact on the support of (suspected) victims of human trafficking, but also has serious consequences for the provision of services to affected women. Compared to the situation before the pandemic, our clients experience more difficult access to services, especially to medical services, employment opportunities, access to psychological services and legal assistance. SOLWODI counselling centres are also limited in their ability to identify and support victims of trafficking through psychosocial counselling. Accompanying women and arranging appointments with doctors continues to be a challenge for victims of trafficking who suffer severe psychological and physical consequences. Referral mechanisms to SOLWODI, which are crucial for both identification and assistance to victims, are further affected.
The overall objective of this project is to ensure that victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation receive complementary support during the COVID-19 pandemic, thus complementing the Council of Europe's work to combat trafficking in human beings and protect the rights of trafficked persons in the current circumstances. The project is co-financed by the Council of Europe. In order to achieve the overall objective, this project consists of three work packages, each with a specific objective:
Work Package 1: Data collection on the gender-specific impact of the COVID 19 pandemic on victims of trafficking in order to fill a gap in data collection and to help to adapt the provision of assistance and services accordingly. In this work package, specialised counselling centres, initiatives, etc. will be asked to complete a Google survey to generate appropriate data sets for the case study Germany.
Work package 2: Preventing further victimisation by promoting and protecting the rights of victims of trafficking by ensuring that specific emergency-related vulnerabilities to THB and the needs of women are addressed. To this end, SOLWODI provides psychosocial counselling and support to the women concerned.
Work package 3: Raising public awareness to further promote and protect the rights of victims of trafficking and to implement a gender-sensitive counselling approach tailored to the pandemic. To this end, the results of Work Package 1 will be published in English and German on the SOLWODI homepage.
If you have any questions or comments, please contact our SOLWODI staff member responsible for the project, Anja Wells:
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic_EN
This text has been produced with the financial assistance of the Council of Europe. The views expressed herein can in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of the Council of Europe.
