3071-The political economy of new slavery

86 The Belgian Counter-trafficking Policy
Victims who are already residing in an illegal, precarious and vulnerable
position must not be forced into a worse position or a more
clandestine situation due to repressive interventions by the police
agencies. Therefore, the police officers are urged to recognize these
persons primarily as victims and not approach them as illegal immigrants
who violate Belgian administrative and social legislation.
Particularly important is that this directive advises that the victims
should be referred to the three institutions that specialize in the relief
of trafficked victims and that the framework for victim treatment
should be applied as established within the two aforementioned
circulars.
In general the specialized shelters offer a victim of trafficking protection,
legal, administrative, social and medical assistance. Protection
should be seen as providing victims of trafficking with accommodation
if he or she has no other place to stay or in case the victim might be in
danger. The length of the stay at the safe house varies from one situation
to another. In principle there are no limits, although the average
stay at the safe house is six months.
Legal assistance is aimed at ensuring that the victim’s rights and
interest are defended. Obviously, most of the victims are not well
informed about their legal position and rights. Moreover, victims often
do not dare to tell the truth during their initial statement to the police.
Therefore, the shelters will offer the victim the assistance of a lawyer.
Another possibility is that the Centre for Equal Opportunities and
Combating Racism, as well as the three specialist organizations, have the
capacity to appear in court in lawsuits related to trafficking in human
beings. The organization may form the plaintiff in its own name or on
behalf of the victims who authorize it to do so.
Administrative support is directed at unravelling the cluster of administrative
rules in order to facilitate obtaining a residence permit for the
victims as discussed above.
Prevention projects aimed at disseminating correct information to
the countries of origin and transit by informative programme or information
campaigns relating to the actual opportunities in terms of
residence and living and working conditions and the risk of being
abused by smugglers and traffickers have gained particular attention
(Koser, 2000).
Finally, the IOM conducted a pilot project for the return and reintegration
of victims of human trafficking in 2001. The objective of the
project was to gather and disseminate information on the services
available for victims of human trafficking with the aim of setting up an