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ACADEMIC PROGRAMME

Session 4
Victims at the Centre: Trauma-Informed Justice in Human Trafficking and Migrant Smuggling Cases

DATE & TIME​

LOCATION

🗓️ Tuesday, August 25
🕐 16:30-17:30 

📍 Grand Park Hall 1–3

Organised By

Organised by the Human Rights Committee and the Labour Law (+ Immigration Law) Commission

Description

How does trauma shape a victim’s ability to engage with the legal system — and what does this mean for lawyers handling trafficking or migrant-smuggling cases? This session brings together UNODC experts and practitioners to explore credibility challenges, access to legal aid, and the practical realities victims face during investigations and prosecutions.

SPEAKERS

Silke Albert

United Nations Office on
Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
Austria

Bio

A lawyer by profession, Silke Albert currently serves as Team Leader in the Human Trafficking and Migrant Smuggling Section (HTMSS) of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). She leads a team focused on the protection of victims and victim-witnesses, while promoting the meaningful inclusion of survivors in shaping responses to trafficking in persons. Her team also works on issues related to child trafficking. Before joining the United Nations more than 20 years ago, she worked with grassroots NGOs supporting migrants and asylum seekers

Katie Klaffenböck

International Organization
for Migration (IOM)
Austria

Bio

Katie Klaffenböck heads the Counter-Trafficking Unit at the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Country Office for Austria. She has over 10 years of experience in working against human trafficking and regularly leads training courses for Austrian officials and frontline professionals in the field of asylum and migration. She is actively engaged in policy dialogue on the protection of trafficked persons in Austria and oversees IOM Austria’s direct support to trafficked persons. Prior to joining IOM, she worked at UNODC in the field of migrant smuggling. She holds bachelor’s degrees in political science and European studies as well as a master’s degree in European Union studies. Her main objective is to improve the structural protection of migrants’ rights.

SESSION COORDINATOR

Nikki Vreede

Everaert Advocaten
Netherlands

Bio

Nikki Vreede is an expert in the field of immigration law. Nikki assists private individuals, with a specialization in complex family reunification cases and permits based on medical and humanitarian grounds. Nikki also advises on labor-migration, including knowledge migrants and entrepreneurs, especially in the creative sector. She also assists companies that are fined for violations of the Aliens Employment Act.