The European Commission presented a new EU initiative which intends to boost the fight against organised crime and human trafficking in Azerbaijan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Moldova and Turkey. The Commission stressed that this project will promote regional cooperation on this issue through sharing information and best practice between countries and regions.

The European Commission is launching a new €1.5 million project that will help countries to be better equipped to deal with human trafficking, for example through sharing data on trafficking and providing training for law enforcement agencies on how to deal with the issue more effectively. In particular, it will fight against organised crime and human trafficking in Azerbaijan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Moldova and Turkey. In June 2012, the Commission presented the EU Strategy towards the Eradication of Trafficking in Human Beings (2012-2016).

In particular, the project aims to improve systems of data collection, analysis and exchange at the national and transnational level to increase the knowledge on the scale and nature of trafficking in human beings; promote and assist in information sharing and regional coordination on trafficking in human beings; enhance national and transnational law enforcement cooperation and the capacity of prosecutors, consular and non-governmental organisations' staff to address the crime of trafficking in human beings more efficiently. This first pilot phase, focusing on law enforcement, is financed by the European Union under its Instrument for Stability.

The project is a first pilot phase. By mid-2014 a second phase is expected to consolidate its results and broaden the scope by addressing not only law enforcement, but also assistance and protection of victims. The project complements the work of the Commission also in relation to the collection of statistical data on trafficking in human beings, for which the Commission will publish a report spring 2013. It also links to the work on the Action Oriented Paper on strengthening the EU external dimension on action against trafficking in human beings. More countries are also expected to join the project in the second phase.