A new group of experts has been established in accordance with the Commission’s Decision of 10 August 2011.

The third group of experts is composed of 15 members representing a wide range of expertise in all the aspects of anti-trafficking policies and also a balanced representation in terms of institutional background and geographic regions.

The group has been tasked:

• to advise the Commission on matters related to trafficking in human beings and protecting its victims by issuing written contributions, as appropriate and agreed with the Commission, and ensuring a coherent approach to the subject;
• to help the Commission to assess the evolution of policy in the field of trafficking in human beings at national, European and international levels;
• to assist the Commission in identifying and defining possible relevant measures and actions at national, European and international level across the range of the anti-trafficking policies;
• to provide a forum for discussion on matters related to trafficking in human beings and bring about exchanges of experience.

Police Commissar, Head of Unit, National Agency against Trafficking in Persons, Romania

Mr. Petrescu is a senior police officer within Romanian Ministry of Administration and Interior, with 18 years of service. Since 2002 to 2010 he worked in several positions in Anti-Trafficking Unit, Countering Organized Crime Directorate – Romanian National Police, as intelligence and investigation, officer, intelligence analyst, to head of Unit. He recently (2011) joined Romanian National Agency against Trafficking in Persons as Head of Monitoring, Research and Victims Co-ordination Unit, covering various responsibilities like THB victim’s referral or co-ordination during criminal proceedings, drafting annual reports on trafficking or developing and monitoring the implementation of public policies in Romania.

As part of his responsibilities, Mr. Petrescu is also involved in developing trainings for police officers from Romanian National Police and Romanian Border Police.

General Manager of the Human Trafficking Foundation, United Kingdom

Ann is the General Manager of the Human Trafficking Foundation, an organization which has just been established to drive progress on trafficking policy, raise awareness of politicians and policy makers and forge links with NGOs working in this field adding value to their work. The Foundation holds a quarterly meeting of approximately 50 NGOs working on the issue across the UK. She also convenes 2 working groups developing trafficking care standards and identifying good practice in follow on support for victims of trafficking. The Human Trafficking Foundation coordinates a programme of activity to mark UK Anti Slavery Day each year.

Ann was most recently Head of Equality and Women’s services for Glasgow Community and Safety Services, a charitable company established by the City Council and Strathclyde Police to tackle crime and promote community safety. Ann was a key player in the design, establishment and development of the Glasgow Routes Out of Prostitution partnership which is recognised as a best practice model in the UK and further afield. She secured the significant resources which came to the city for this work.

In 2003 Ann established the Glasgow Inter Agency Group on Trafficking and subsequently established and managed TARA, the anti trafficking service which now receives Scottish Government funding to provide victim care for women trafficked in Scotland and capacity building for NGOs and statutory bodies.

Ann has also held posts as Equality Officer for Glasgow City Council (1996-1998), Women’s Equality Officer for Strathclyde Regional Council (1989-1996) and Community Development worker in various posts in Glasgow (1976-1989) 

Deputy National Antimafia Prosecutor at Italian Antimafia Directorate (Rome)

Filippo Spiezia is currently Deputy National Antimafia Prosecutor at the Italian Antimafia Directorate (Rome). Previously, he has served as Deputy National Member for Italy at Eurojust. He was Public Prosecutor from 1991 to 2003, and afterwards worked as Anti-mafia Public Prosecutor. During his judicial career in Italy, Mr Spiezia was responsible for several criminal investigations on organized crime with transnational implications. He conducted criminal proceedings for trafficking in human beings, implementing successfully mechanisms for international judicial corporation. Mr Spiezia was also appointed by the Italian Justice Superior Council as Member of the Scientific Committee, managing the central judicial training of judges and prosecutors. He is the author of several books on the fight against transnational crime, including trafficking of human beings and corruption. In 2003, he was awarded the Falcone and Borsellino International Prize after the publication of his article entitled “The trafficking and exploitation of human beings”, edited by Italian editor Giuffrè. He also gave lectures in international criminal law in the framework of international conferences and in national Universities and Academies. He has authored several books in the fields of judicial co-operation; particularly to mention the volume “Judicial co-operation before and after the Lisbon Treaty”, released in 2009. He has published a reflection on the Directive 2011/36/EU in the article “ The first Directive of criminal penal law on THB under Lisbon Treaty” published by the Italian review “ Cassazione Penale”. Professor under temporary contract in the Italian Universities of Law (Naples, Salerno, Rome, Bologna, Trento, Teramo).

Coordinator of the Prevention and Protection (Counter-Trafficking) Programme at the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Moldova

Irina Todorova is the Coordinator of the Prevention and Protection (Counter-Trafficking) Programme at the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Moldova. During her 7 years with IOM she has developed a national response to trafficking in human beings in the Republic of Moldova in close partnership with all agencies involved in the domain. Ms. Todorova was responsible for developing, implementing and enhancing the assistance infrastructure for victims of trafficking according to their individual needs and in line with the changing trends.

Presently she is involved in handing-over the counter-trafficking responsibilities to the Government in the domain of repatriation, rehabilitation and reintegration through the National Referral System (NRS), which is considered to be a unique partnership between the Government and civil society.

From the perspective of a country of origin, Ms. Todorova developed the concept of “Proactive Prevention”; based on the premise that almost all victims of trafficking have been victims of socio-economic deprivations and gender-based violence in their own country before being pushed into trafficking. She believes that effective Prevention starts with identifying vulnerable women and children in countries of origin in order to assist them before they fall prey to traffickers.

Ms. Todorova’s experience and expertise has contributed to the national counter-trafficking efforts of a number of countries, in particular in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

Responsible for the implementation of the national THB Monitoring System, Portugal

Director of the Portuguese Government Observatory on Trafficking in Human Beings since 2010, she is the responsible for the implementation of the national THB Monitoring System that merges Victims and Traffickers databases to a Geographic Information System (GIS). In addition she is also the coordinator of several national and international THB projects, extending from early identification of possible THB victims to training for criminal justice practitioners.

With a Master’s Degree in Human Rights and Democratization, with a special focus on children born of war rape, Joana worked for UNICEF in Sarajevo, as a Senior Field Researcher and in the UNICEF/Innocenti Research Center in Florence. Before becoming the Director of the Observatory on THB she was an advisor on THB issues to the PT Mission to the OSCE. She is the author of several articles and reports, and the editor of some THB publications.

Joana is the National Focal Point to the European Commission Anti-Trafficking Portal.

Policy Coordinator joined the Mediterranean Institute of Gender Studies (MIGS), Cyprus

Josie Christodoulou joined the Mediterranean Institute of Gender Studies (MIGS) as a Project Officer 2004. She is currently the policy coordinator at MIGS as well as coordinator of various projects related to gender and migration, integration, and trafficking in women for the purpose of sexual and labour exploitation. She monitors migration and integration legislation as well as legislation and actions to combat trafficking in human beings on both national and EU levels and works to influence these from a gender perspective. Josie served as a member of the Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) of the Council of Europe from 2009- May 2011, and is currently a member of the Sub- committee on Trafficking in Women of the National Machinery for Women’s Rights of the Ministry and Public Order in Cyprus.

Her research interests include issues of gender and migration/integration; and trafficking in women for the purpose of sexual and labour exploitation. 

Trafficking Programme Coordinator at Anti-Slavery International, United Kingdom

Ms Skrivankova has 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.  She previously worked as the  Prevention and Education Manager at La Strada Czech Republic, and since 2005 has been working as the Trafficking Programme Coordinator at Anti-Slavery International in London, UK.

Ms Skrivankova regularly participates 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.

Publications include: Chandran,P.: Human Trafficking Handbook: Recognising Trafficking and Modern-Day Slavery in the UK, Lexis-Nexis, London, 2011.  (author of chapters on forced labour and access to justice);  Skrivankova, K.: Between decent work and forced labour – examining the continuum of exploitation: Working paper, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2010.

Contact: Klara.skrivankova@antislavery.org

Professor of Law at Aberystwyth University, United Kingdom

Ryszard Piotrowicz has been Professor of Law at Aberystwyth University since 1999. Before that he taught international law in Tasmania, Durham and Glasgow. He was a member of the second Group of Experts on Trafficking in Human Beings (2008-11). He has published extensively on the legal aspects of people trafficking and assisted in the drafting of the UNHCR’s Guidelines on the application of the Refugees Convention to people at risk of being trafficked. He has acted as a consultant on trafficking issues for several international organisations. In addition to his work on trafficking, he is also active in refugee law and international humanitarian law.

Board member of the KOK (a network of all German counselling centres specialising in supporting trafficked persons, based in Berlin) and KOOFRA (a specialised counselling centre for trafficked women in Hamburg), Germany

Ms Ulrike Gatzke is a board member of the KOK (a network of all German counselling centres specialising in supporting trafficked persons, based in Berlin) and KOOFRA (a specialised counselling centre for trafficked women in Hamburg). She has a long-standing experience in anti-trafficking work, e.g. in grass-root counselling for trafficked persons, policy development, advocacy and training of professionals.

Her professional record includes: Co-founder and project coordinator of the counselling centre KOOFRA in Hamburg from 1999 to 2009, board member of KOOFRA since 2009; board member of the network organisation KOK in Berlin since 2007; anti-trafficking-advisor of the Boltzmann Institute of Human Rights in Vienna for EU Twinning projects in Turkey, Croatia and Romania.

Senior Officer and an anti-human trafficking expert at the Office of the Ombudsman for Minorities, Finland

Dr. Roth serves as a Senior Officer and an anti-human trafficking expert at the Office of the Ombudsman for Minorities in Finland. The Ombudsman is an independent and autonomous authority, who also acts as a National Rapporteur on Trafficking in Human Beings. Dr. Roth assists the National Rapporteur to monitor phenomena relating to human trafficking, the fulfilment of international obligations and the effectiveness of national legislation, as well as to issue proposals, recommendations, statements and advice relevant to developing action against human trafficking and promoting the status and legal protection of trafficked persons. The National Rapporteur submits a report annually to the Government and every four years to Parliament on human trafficking and related phenomena. Dr. Roth is the drafter of the reports of the National Rapporteur (the reports are to be found at www.ofm.fi).
 
Dr. Roth has previously served as an expert on trafficking-related issues for the Ministry of the Interior, Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Labour of Finland. Dr. Roth has published extensively on law, human rights and trafficking in human beings, and she holds a Ph.D. in law (Roth, Defining Human Trafficking and Identifying Its Victims: Study on the Impact and Future Challenges of International, European and Finnish Legal Responses to Prostitution-Related Trafficking in Human Being, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, forthcoming in 2011).