The Liaison Magistrate Initiative (LMI) is a pilot project aimed at strengthening international judicial cooperation to counter trafficking in persons, migrant smuggling, and related crimes, through the deployment of liaison magistrates from West and Central Africa to EU countries.
The LMI is a component of the PROMIS project – implemented by OHCHR and UNODC, in cooperation with the Siracusa International Institute – which aims to strengthen the capacities of West African states to develop a human rights-based response to smuggling of migrants.
The liaison magistrate initiative was officially launched by UNODC in 2018, with the deployment of Nigerian liaison prosecutors in Italy and Spain to foster communication and to better overcome obstacles to mutual legal assistance and to counter trafficking in persons, migrant smuggling and related crimes.
Since 2019, UNODC and the Siracusa Institute co-organized several multi-stakeholder meetings to review the implementation of the Liaison Magistrate Initiative, assess the main challenges that emerged in the course of implementing the LMI, highlight related good practices and lessons learned, and issue key recommendations.
The “Conference on the Protection and Assistance of Trafficked Victims from Nigeria to Europe” was organized under the PROMIS project by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the Siracusa institute, in collaboration with OHCHR, in the context of the non-punishment principle of trafficked victims and the protection and assistance available and accessible to victims. The conference – which took place in Siracusa between 2-4 October 2023 – gathered African and European NGOs working in the protection of victims of trafficking in persons and/or smuggled migrants to facilitate exchange of information and build mutual trust in order to enhance protection and assistance mechanisms in countries of origin and destination. Specifically, the meeting provided an opportunity for 45 participants, including case workers and first responders, to:
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