TRIPS (TRafficked International Protection Beneficiaries’ Special Needs)
The TRIPS initiative is a two year project exploring the unique needs of victims of human trafficking who are recipients of international protection in Ireland. It is the second phase of the TRACKS project focussing on the crossover between asylum and trafficking.
The general objective of this project is to better identify and address specific needs of victims of trafficking who are also beneficiaries of international protection in relation to their integration process in the host society through a practical, person-centred and comparative approach.
The TRIPS project will be focusing on the special needs of the beneficiaries of international protection who have been victims of trafficking.
Ireland (along with Denmark) has not opted into the EU Qualification Directive (2011/95/EU) and so exist in the absence of a full legal frame for addressing the integration needs of international protection beneficiaries (recognised refugees, programme refugees and holders of subsidiary protection).
We will be sharing our practical experiences and exchanging best practice experiences with the other partners organisations which have the benefit of a specific legal/policy provisions deriving from the EU Directive.
Objectives:
- At EU and national level, alert and orientation guidelines included in the toolbox are embedded in integration and anti-trafficking practitioners’ practices.
- The number of trafficked beneficiaries of international protection identified in the integration process is higher.
- The number of trafficked beneficiaries of international protection appropriately oriented and supported in their integration process is higher.
- Trafficked beneficiaries of international protection benefit from an appropriate integration process.
Background
The impetus for the project came from the shared understanding among anti-trafficking organisations across Europe about the particular vulnerabilities of victims of trafficking who are seeking or who have obtained international protection. A frequent problem identified at local, national and regional levels relates to the identification process and the responses to specific needs.
The Immigrant Council of Ireland has been exploring the important link between human trafficking and international protection for a number of years. This is due to the fact that many of our clients are applicants of international protection and some are beneficiaries of such protection.
In 2011, we investigated the difference in the level of assistance and rights afforded to victims of trafficking who are and who are not applying for asylum, respectively. Our report Asylum seeking victims of trafficking: Legal and practical challenges exposed the discriminatory treatment of some victims of trafficking in Ireland. Later on, with Forum Refugie France and other partners in the EU we explored the special needs of asylum seeking victims of trafficking (TRACKS project), which used the framework established by the EU Reception Directive (2013/33/EU), which Ireland adopted in 2018.
Read more about our work fighting human trafficking.
Updates
Action Plan on Integration and Inclusion: An opportunity to better address the trafficked beneficiaries of international protection’s needs?
Adopting a needs-based approach, the new action plan on integration and inclusion published by the European Commission in November 2020 invites states to take into account different forms of vulnerabilities in their integration policies. Despite substantial progresses to better vulnerabilities, the action plan partly manages to take into account the impact human trafficking is likely to have in the integration process.
Read more in our Article on EU Action Plan on Integration
TRIPS Project Update: French national strategy for reception & integration of refugees (April 2021)
