Paper Titles & Abstracts

One of the most salient issues for post-Soviet countries' internal security is human trafficking, taking place both within and between the countries of the region extending beyond regional borders as well. Often being underestimated by the local governments, these problems have attracted attention of international actors - both states (such as the USA, the UK or Japan) and intergovernmental organisations (the EU, OSCE, UNODC, IOM, etc.). The EU is one of the biggest donors for projects that focus on the fight against human trafficking in the region. It has financed the biggest externally-sponsored project (around 4 million Euro for 3 years) in Russia in 2006-2009. Other EU initiatives include anti-trafficking components in such complex programmes as BOMCA and CADAP being implemented in Central Asia since 2003 or projects "developing comprehensive anti-trafficking response in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia" in 2006-2009. EU funding aimed at promotion of anti-trafficking action in the region usually comes under the umbrella of either development aid or promotion of human security, including orderly migration. The EU tends to keep a low profile as regards to these contributions and the content of the action. However, there are indications that EU initiatives against human trafficking in the post-Soviet space have also been part of EU efforts to promote wider regional security and stability. This paper aims to demonstrate how these multiple - internal and external - security goals operate both in EU strategies towards the region and on the ground thus providing some evidence for synergies between EU internal security and foreign policies.