COALESCE Project
COALESCE: Legal, Psycho-social and economic empowerment for the integration of women third country nationals (TCN) victims of human trafficking (VoT) for sexual exploitation and abuse (Coalesce Project EC AMIF: 958133).
The COALESCE Project is funded by the European Union Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund and implemented by a partnership consortium comprising the lead partner Mediterranean Institute of Gender Studies (Cyprus), Cyprus Refugee Council, CARITAS Cyprus, Associazione IROKO Onlus (Italy), Marta Centre (Latvia), European Network of Migrant Women, Immigrant Council Ireland, Solwodi (Germany), Klapeida (Lithuania).
The objective of the project is to provide support to the female migrant victims of trafficking in human beings for sexual exploitation in Europe. By providing gender-specific psycho-social, legal and economic support and assistance to third-country national women victims of sex trafficking, the project seeks to develop synergies and complementarities in facilitating needs identification, assistance and support, and improve transnational cooperation among front line professionals and practitioners.
In July 2021 the consortium published a series of Mind the Gap reports, to present a mapping and analysis of needs for the support to and integration of female third country national victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation (TCN VoTs) in six EU (European Union) Member States. Read the English-language reports in full below.
Cyprus
Germany
Ireland
Italy
Latvia
Lithuania
In October 2021 we published a blog post written by a women accompanied and supported by our partner Solwodi (Germany), entitled Unforgettable: I started from scratch. You can read it here.
To mark International Migrants Day, 18th December 2021, the COALESCE consortium put together this policy brief summarising the gaps in support services for women victims of trafficking, both across Europe and specifically here in Italy, and our recommendations for what our governments need to do to guarantee effective protection and integration.
New publication: Gender-specific integration model (GeSIM) for victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation and abuse
In order to effectively implement gender-specific integration programmes for female third country nationals who are victims of trafficking in human beings (THB), service providers need to integrate gender as well as cultural sensitivity into their everyday work. This handbook is a step towards strengthening victim support service providers and your individual capacity as practitioner in taking gender-specific approaches and setting up gender-specific support programmes for women victims of THB.
The GeSIM handbook is available in: English, German, Greek, Italian, Latvian and Lithuanian.
In July 2022, we published a second blog, post written by a Survivor supported by our partner Cyprus Refugee Council, Armandine Love Saadio. In her quest to give a voice to those that are often forgotten or lumped into an anonymous, faceless mass, Armandine Love Saadio documents the life of a survivor of sexual exploitation and abuse. Her brave and thought-provoking work follows the life of Rita, immersing the reader in the emotional turmoil of her journey, from child to woman. In the following excerpt from her yet-unpublished novel, translated from French to English, we watch Rita struggle with being forced to abandon her dreams and the studies she so loves. Her mother confirms that they were but an illusion, paid for by Uncle Yves, a deposit on a life of submission. The deal is done and her only choice is to comply, or to find the strength to flee…alone and afraid.
This blog post serves as a preamble to her life before trafficking – the abandonment of her studies due to a forced marriage, her father’s incestuous acts and grooming, and an abrupt end to her personal dreams and aspirations. These are some of the elements that are common in the lives of sexually exploited women, unknown to the wider public.
You can read Armandine’s blog post in full here.