be increased, and selection criteria consider the particular protection needs of victims
or individuals who have been or are at risk of being trafficked.
IV. REGIONAL INITIATIVES AND COOPERATION
1. In February 2002 the First Regional Ministerial Conference on People Smuggling,
Trafficking in Persons and Related Transnational Crime initiated the Bali Process,
which since then was followed up by two subsequent Ministerial Meetings in 2003 and
2009 and a number of Ad Hoc Experts’ Groups meetings, workshops and Senior
Officials’ Meetings. UNHCR and IOM are partner organizations to the Bali Process.
2. UNHCR is convinced that the Bali Process is a useful vehicle to take the question of
regional cooperation forward. In support of the development of useful ‘building blocks’
for collaboration at the practical level, UNHCR recently proposed to co host an Expert
Workshop on Regional Cooperation on Refugees and Irregular Movement.3)
3. Regional developments in other parts of the world have also supported national efforts
to ensure inter alia the protection of victims of trafficking in human beings, some of
whom fall under UNHCR’s mandate, and may also serve as an inspiration for further
actions in this region.4)
UNHCR
June 2010
1) Guidelines on the “Application of Article 1A(2) of the 1951 Convention or 1967 Protocol Relating to the
Status of Refugees to Victims of Trafficking and Persons at Risk of Being Trafficked” Document available
at: http://www.unhcr.org/publ/PUBL/443b626b2.pdf
2) UN High Commissioner for Refugees, The Identification and Referral of Trafficked Persons to Procedures
for Determining International Protection Needs, October 2009, PPLAS/2009/03, available at:
http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/4ad317bc2.html [accessed 22 June 2010]
3) UNHCR proposal tabled at the Workshop on Regional Protection, Resettlement and Repatriation, Bali,
7‐9 June 2010.
4) See also UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Human Trafficking and Refugee Protection: UNHCR's Perspective,
September 2009, available at: http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/ docid/4ae17da12.html [accessed 23 June
2010] and UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Protecting Trafficked Persons in the Americas: A Refugee
Law Perspective, May 2010, available at: http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/4bf0f11e2.html [accessed
23 June 2010]
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