On 30 November 2022, the participants of the National Coordination Mechanism and the NGO Roundtable, which brings together domestic governmental and non-governmental organisations, reviewed recent developments in the field of trafficking in human beings and discussed the way forward at the Ministry of Interior.
At the beginning of the meeting, Dr. Mátyás Hegyaljai, Deputy State Secretary for European Union and International Affairs of the Ministry of Interior and the national Anti-Trafficking Coordinator reported on the international perception of Hungary's efforts to stop trafficking in human beings and the international cooperation opportunities. He referred to the US State Department's Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP Report) and the Council of Europe's GRETA Committee's third round evaluation, which is still in preparation and will be published in 2023. He also highlighted the active cooperation with the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
Participants were briefed on the activities carried out on the occasion of the European Day for Anti-Trafficking, the Ministry of Interior reported on the International Conference against Trafficking in Human Beings held in Budapest on 20-21 October. Participants agreed that the plays called „Kiállok érted!” és a „Kiállok magamért!” ("I stand up for you!" and "I stand up for myself") proved to be extremely useful for authorities, professional organisations working in the field and for the children as well.
According to representatives of the National Police Headquarters and the National Bureau of Investigation, there has been no significant change in the trends of human trafficking compared to recent years, with sexual exploitation still being the highest among the cases.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) provided information on the implementation of a large-scale, nationwide "Ne hagyd! Ne tedd!" (“Don’t let it happen! Don’t make it happen!”) campaign, which will raise awareness of the dangers of trafficking in human beings through a range of media platforms from 8 December to the end of March 2023.
A separate item on the agenda was the future funding opportunities available, in particular the Internal Security Fund and the Swiss Contribution will publish calls for proposals.