160 – The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime: An Interview with Panagiotis Papadimitriou

This episode is brought to you by Vanguard University and the Global Center for Women and Justice, who offer an incredible anti-human trafficking certificate. Whether you're a frontline responder, a social worker, in the ministry, a healthcare provider, or simply a community member who wants to help, this program is built for you. Head over to gcwj.org/ahtc to take the next step and apply today. ---Dr. Sandra Morgan and Dave Stachowiak talk to Panagiotis Papadimitriou to discuss the important work he is doing at UNODC. They discuss the legal database and research he is conducting. They also talk about the difference between human trafficking and migrant smuggling and why it is so critical to understand the distinction. Key Points Much of UNODC’s work revolves around developing studies and conducting research. UNODC’s target audience is people involved in the criminal justice processes. UNODC maintains a database that allows practitioners to search for past cases to use as a reference. Many people, including government officials, confuse and conflate human trafficking with migrant smuggling. Human trafficking revolves around the key concept of exploitation. Human smuggling involves moving from one person to another location illegally, but this often leads to human trafficking. Trafficking victims often have more protections than illegal migrants. Resources United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Global Report on Trafficking in Persons Are you enjoying the show? If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to subscribe or rate the podcast on iTunes by clicking here. Click here for FAQs about podcasts and how to subscribe. Haven’t been receiving our newsletter? Visit our homepage to join today. Contact us with questions, comments, or suggestions at [email protected]. Transcript Dave: [00:00:00] You’re listening to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. This is episode number 160, The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Production Credits: [00:00:08] Produced by Innovate Learning, maximizing human potential. Dave: [00:00:30] Welcome to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. My name is Dave Stachowiak. Sandie: [00:00:35] And my name is Sandie Morgan. Dave: [00:00:38] And this is the show where we empower you to study the issues, be a voice, and make a difference in ending human trafficking. Sandie, one of the great benefits that I’ve gotten just on a purely selfish level over the years of being a cohost on the show with you is learning so many things about the world, organizations that you’ve partnered with Sandie, and so much about this issue. And one of the institutions that I’ve learned a little bit about in that time is the United Nations. And I’m really excited today to be able to learn more about a part of the United Nations I’m very unaware of and I think our audience will learn a lot too. And today’s guest comes from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, and his name is Panagiotis Papadimitriou. Panagiotis is a Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice officer working in the human trafficking and migrant smuggling section of the Organized Crime Branch of the division of treaty affairs under the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime headquarters. He joined Sandie in Athens, Greece for the conference on human trafficking during the Greece summer study abroad. And Sandie, that was this past summer wasn’t it. Sandie: [00:01:51] That’s right. And we’ve been invited back. So welcome to the show. We’ll dispense with formalities and we’re just going to call you Takis because you’ve become a great friend and we have learned so much from you since meeting you in Greece this last summer. Panagiotis: [00:02:09] Thank you very much, Sandie. I have to say I’m very glad to be here with you and talk to you. And actually, it was a great pleasure for me to join you in Athens. And I have to tell you that I have learned an equal lot if not more than you did through my participation there. Sandie: [00:02:29] You are very kind. First of all, though, let’s tell our listeners about what the UNODC actually is and why combating human trafficking is situated in that office in Vienna. Panagiotis: [00:02:44] Well you know this is first of all the department of the Secretariat of the United Nations and is actually the department that is mandated by the member states to deal with issues related to drugs and crime countering gangs, drug crime, preventing drug abuse and criminality, and helping states implementing the different international instruments and relating to drugs and crime. Now my section, the team I’m working with is actually the section of UNODC which is specifically dealing with the international instruments on trafficking in persons and the smuggling of migrants. That is the United Nations protocol to prevent, suppress, and punish trafficking in persons, especially women and children. And the United Nations protocol against the smuggling of migrants by land, sea, and air which are both supplementing the Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime. So UNODC is I would say the guardian of international instruments, which means that we are responsible to assist states in implementing them. And when it comes to trafficking, to take all the measures that is necessary to criminalize trafficking in persons, in accordance with international definition agreed in the protocol, to protect the victims of trafficking, to prevent trafficking, and also to partner among them, among the states, but also with other people in the civil society or international organizations. Because you know very well, that trafficking in persons is a multifaceted phenomenon where it requires a holistic response to be addressed. So, this is the role for UNODC and trafficking, mainly supporting states also coordinating with other agencies. And I would say a great deal of our work in developing studies and doing research into human trafficking. Sandie: [00:05:19] And that’s a really interesting place to start because when I went on the UNODC website and looked for a human trafficking, I began to discover so many resources that would help me in the classroom where I’m teaching on human trafficking. We also have had an anti-human trafficking certificate. And so, it’s been easy for me to find examples of case law, legislation, those sorts of things because your office produces the human trafficking knowledge portal. And when you say knowledge portal and I click on that, it’s not one or two articles, it is an entire bibliography database included there. So, can you tell me how you developed that knowledge base and how it’s maintained so that I know that it’s up to date. Panagiotis: [00:06:19] Well, first of all to keep it up to date is our responsibility. Right? As UNODC we are really doing our best to do that. So, the anti-trafficking knowledge portal is essentially a database of legislation on the one hand and on occasion the jurisprudence on the other hand. Anti-trafficking legislation is provided to us mainly by member states that are requested officially to do so but also through research that we are conducting and the results of which...