The second Group of experts was set up in 2007 in accordance with the Commission's Decision (2007/675/EC).

The membership was broadened to include representatives from non-EU Member States, international and non-governmental organisations (active at European level), employers' associations and academics.

The Group was chaired by Bärbel Heide Uhl from Germany.

The Group of Experts was composed of 21 members taken from:

• Administrations of the Member States and Norway (up to 11 members);
• Inter-governmental, international and non-governmental organisations active at European level in the area of trafficking in human beings (up to 5 members);
• Social partners and employers' associations operating at European level (up to 4 members);
• Europol (1 member);
• Experts from public or private universities or institutes in Member States (up to 2 members).

Prosecutor, specialised in training  of law enforcement teams prosecuting human trafficking, Bulgaria

Ms Balkanska Lavine is a career prosecutor, with 20 years experience in criminal litigation and prosecution, specializing in training and coordination of law enforcement teams prosecuting human trafficking and other forms of organized crime. She is an international and comparative law expert with knowledge of both civil and common law systems, participant in numerous teams drafting and evaluating national and international anti-trafficking legislation. Currently, she is a self-employed attorney and legal reform consultant for governmental and non-governmental sector in Bulgaria, the United States and elsewhere.

Ms Balkanska Lavine holds a Master of Laws in International and United States Legal Studies, Golden Gate University, San Francisco, School of Law.

Board of Directors' member, Standing Against Global Exploitation (SAGE), Inc., San Francisco, USA. Legal expert, Nadia Centre Foundation, Sofia, Bulgaria.

Contact: antoniasb@hotmail.com

Certified Trainer and Coordinator of LEFÖ-IBF Intervention Center for Trafficked Women, Austria

Evelyn Probst has a Master in Psychology and is a certified trainer who has been working in the field of fighting Trafficking in Human Beings (THB) for 15 years.

Ms Probst has been a staff member of LEFÖ (Information, Education and Support for Migrant Women) – an Intervention centre for trafficked women and girls, since 1998.  She was called to fill the position of Lefö-IBF's coordinator in the year 2000.

Lefö-IBF is the only Intervention Center of it's kind in Austria and offers direct support to trafficked women and girls. Situated in Vienna, the Intervention centre is working on behalf of the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry for Women's Affairs in the whole country.

Due to her considerable experience in the area of psycho-social support to trafficked women and girls, Ms Probst is a much sought-after trainer for seminars on the issue of THB carried out by public authorities, police, NGOs and other relevant actors.

Ms Probst has been a teacher at the Austrian University in Klagenfurt for more than five years and has also given classes at other Austrian Universities as well as at the Universidad Autonoma de Mexico.

Contact: ibf@lefoe.at

Adviser to the OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings

Ms Vaz Cabral holds a Master in Law and Post-graduation in Comparative Public Law and Criminal Policies in Europe from the University of Pantheon-Sorbonne (Paris). Since 2002, Ms Vaz Cabral is a legal consultant on comparative law, human rights and human trafficking. She is currently working as an adviser in the Office of the Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

Ms Vaz Cabral has worked at the European and international level for several international organisations (CoE, ICMPD, IOM, UNODC) on legislative review, research, policy and strategy development, advocacy, development and implementation of programmes and at the national level as an expert to French institutions. Since 2003, she is an expert/evaluator of projects to the Freedom, Security, Justice Directorate-General of the European Commission, including Daphne Programme.

From 1998 to 2002, Ms Vaz Cabral worked as a lawyer and an European project coordinator for the non-governmental organisation Comité Contre l'Esclavage Moderne (CCEM) based in Paris specialised in assistance and support to trafficked persons exploited as domestic servants and advocacy. She is currently board member of the CCEM.

She is author of reports, articles and of a book published in France by Les Editions La Découverte in November 2006, La traite des êtres humains – Réalités de l'esclavage comtemporain.

Contact: georgina.vaz-cabral@osce.org

Prosecutor, Latvia

Ms Kaminska has served as a prosecutor at the Latvian prosecution Court in Riga since 2001. She has held several positions such as investigator and prosecutor within the Ventspils City State Police since 1983. Since 1993, she has particularly been focusing on prosecution of fraud, human trafficking, homicide and corruption.  Between 2005 and 2007 she participated as consultant in the EU project "EQUAL", which focused on helping victims of human trafficking.

Contact: Jelena.Kaminska@lrp.gov.lv

Trafficking Programme Coordinator at Anti-Slavery International, United Kingdom

Ms Skrivankova has a long-standing experience in anti-trafficking work within non-governmental organisations, including grass-root work with trafficked persons, policy development, advocacy, acting as expert witness in courts, research, legislative review, training for professionals and author/co-author of reports and manuals on trafficking.

Ms Skrivankova has regularly participated an expert on anti-trafficking issues at numerous fora in the past nine years, including consultations and round-tables: nationally, at the Ministry of the Interior in the Czech Republic, the Home Office in the UK, the British Parliament, the Welsh Assembly and the German Bundestag, and internationally with the UN, OSCE, the Council of Europe and the Nigerian Human Rights Commission.

Career record: Prevention and Education Manager at La Strada Czech Republic, NGO network in Central and Eastern Europe; Trafficking Programme Coordinator at Anti-Slavery International in London, UK.

Ms Skrivankova holds a MA in Public and Social Policy from the Charles University in Prague.

Contact: Klara.skrivankova@antislavery.org

Director of the Antwerp-based NGO Payoke, Belgium

Ms Sorensen is founder and Director of the Antwerp-based NGO Payoke, a non-governmental organisation focused on assisting victims of human trafficking.

From her early profession as art teacher to her political career as Alderman, City Councillor, and Member of the European Parliament, and to her current role as internationally recognized expert and member of the EU Expert Group on Human Trafficking, Sorensen has demonstrated her commitment to tackling this heinous crime.

Throughout the years, Sorensen has been a pioneer in the fight against trafficking in human beings, working relentlessly towards: providing victims the support needed to regain their rights, freedom, and dignity; "waking up" stakeholders to the realities of human trafficking; assisting in the development of a proper legal framework; developing a coordinated and cooperative approach toward victim identification, protection, and prosecution; and using Payoke's 20+ year history of lessons learned to provide guidelines and best practices to other players in the field of counter-trafficking.

Contact: patsy.sorensen@payoke.be

Professor of law at Aberystwyth University, United Kingdom

Mr. Piotrowicz is professor of law at Aberystwyth University. He specialises in refugee law with a particular interest in trafficking, in which he has extensive international experience. He has acted as a consultant on trafficking to several international organisations, giving legal advice and participating in training programmes, and has published extensively on the legal aspects of trafficking.

Mr Piotrowicz is currently writing a book on the legal issues relating to trafficking. He has been a visiting professor at several universities in Europe and Australia, and has given conference presentations and lectures on trafficking around the world.

Contact: ryp@aber.ac.uk 

National Anti-Trafficking Coordinator in the Ministry of the Interior, Slovenia

Mr Čurin was appointed National Anti-Trafficking Coordinator in February 2002.  Since then, he has been responsible for setting up a system of national mechanisms against human trafficking. His current activities include: coordination of national activities, heading the interagency working group (including NGO's), preparation of strategies and action plans, drawing up annual reports, and constant dealing with current issues in the field of combating human trafficking.

Between 1992 and 2000, Mr Čurin worked as a Criminal Inspector and Head of Serious Crime Unit within the local Police Directorate in Koper, Slovenia. Mr Čurin holds a Masters Degree in Economic Science from the University of Ljubljana.

Contact: Sandi.Curin@gov.si

National Coordinator of La Strada Foundation, Poland

Ms Buchowska is co-founder of La Strada and National Coordinator of La Strada Foundation against Trafficking in Persons and Slavery, based in Poland, since 1995. Her main areas of work and expertise include coordination of the major projects implemented by La Strada Foundation, networking on national and international level, development and implementation of training programs especially for the law enforcement representatives, social service providers and NGOs.

Ms Buchowska is a member of the Working Group of "National Action Program" in Poland. She is also teaching at Poznan University and at College for Social Workers in Warsaw. She is a member of the Global Alliance against Trafficking in Women and the International Board and La Strada International Association.

Fellowships include the Fleishman Civil Society Fellow and Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy, Duke University, USA

Contact:stanabuchowska@gmail.com

International Law Enforcement Expert on Trafficking in Human Beings

Steve Harvey is a former UK Police Officer with 32 years law enforcement experience, much of this operational and as a Detective involved in the investigation of serious and organised crime.

Since 2003 Mr Harvey has worked for Europol, the European Police Office based in The Hague and for seven years was Europol's Trafficking Human Beings Group Leader. He is an acknowledged international law enforcement expert in the field of THB and has worked extensively throughout the EU and beyond. He is a graduate of the Institute for International Criminal Investigations in The Hague and has a Diploma in International Humanitarian Law from Leiden University.

In his capacity as Europol's senior expert on THB Mr Harvey has advised and supported governments, law enforcement agencies, EU institutions and bodies, international organisations, academic organisations and NGOs in respect of strategy, policy, law enforcement techniques and training and routinely briefing on the trafficking situation in the EU.

Mr. Harvey is currently the Acting Head of Europol's O.8 Organised Crime Networks Unit managing an international team of multi disciplinary law enforcement specialists targeting organised crime in South East Europe and the Balkans. He has been a member of the European Commission's Group of Experts on THB since 2008.

Contact: steve.harvey@europol.europa.eu