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Novel Strategies to Fight Child Sexual Exploitation and Human Trafficking Crimes and Protect their Victims

Project description

Victim-centred approach to help trafficking victims

The number of people, including children, falling victim to human trafficking and CSA/CSE around the world continues to grow, despite increased international attention and resources. In Europe, sexually exploited women and girls make up the majority of human trafficking victims. The EU-funded HEROES project will explore how to use the latest technological advances and strategies to prevent and combat CSA/CSE and human trafficking, support investigation into these crimes and their victims' protection. It will develop an ambitious, interdisciplinary, international and victim-centred approach. HEROES aims to establish a coordinated contribution with law enforcement agencies to address the specific needs of victims and provide protection which currently is often limited by lack of coordination among stakeholders.

Objective

Trafficking of human beings (THB) and child sexual abuse and exploitation (CSA/CSE) are two big problems in our society. Inadvertently, new information and communication technologies (ICTs) have provided a space for these problems to develop and take new forms, made worse by the lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, technical and legal tools available to stakeholders that prevent, investigate, and assist victims – such as law enforcement agencies (LEAs), prosecutors, judges, and civil society organisations (CSOs) – fail to keep up with the pace at which criminals use new technologies to continue their abhorrent acts. Furthermore, assistance to victims of THB and CSA/CSE is often limited by the lack of coordination among these stakeholders. In this sense, there is a clear and vital need for joint work methodologies and the development of new strategies for approaching and assisting victims. In addition, due to the cross-border nature of these crimes, harmonisation of legal frameworks from each of the affected countries is necessary for creating bridges of communication and coordination among all those stakeholders to help victims and reduce the occurrence of these horrendous crimes. To address these challenges, the HEROES project comes up with an ambitious, interdisciplinary, international, and victim-centred approach. The HEROES project is structured as a comprehensive solution that encompasses three main components: Prevention, Investigation and Victim Assistance. Through these components, our solution aims to establish a coordinated contribution with LEAs by developing an appropriate, victim-centred approach that is capable of addressing specific needs and providing protection. The HEROES project’s main objective is to use technology to improve the way in which help and support can be provided to victims of THB and CSA/CSE.

Call for proposal

H2020-SU-SEC-2018-2019-2020

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Sub call

H2020-SU-SEC-2020

Coordinator

UNIVERSIDAD COMPLUTENSE DE MADRID
Net EU contribution
€ 1 068 750,00
Address
AVENIDA DE SENECA 2
28040 Madrid
Spain

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Region
Comunidad de Madrid Comunidad de Madrid Madrid
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
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Total cost
€ 1 068 750,00

Participants (28)