As part of the process of developing a National Referral Mechanism for victims of trafficking in human beings in Lebanon, the Ministry of Justice in Lebanon with the expertise and support of the Council of Europe in the framework of South Programme V, organised a workshop on 4-5 May 2023 in Beirut on the development of a list of indicators related to the detection and identification of victims of human trafficking in Lebanon.

Bringing together key multisectoral stakeholders on combatting trafficking in Human Beings, such as Representatives and experts of ministries and other state institutions, Beirut bar association, civil society and international organisations, this workshop aims to develop collectively a list of generic and specific indicators that would allow for detection and identification of potential victims of trafficking thanks to standardized tools.

The workshop was opened by Judge Henri Khoury, Minister of Justice in Lebanon and Ms Pilar Morales, Coordinator of the Council of Europe Neighbourhood Policy with the Southern Mediterranean. Experts from Belgium, Morocco, Portugal and Tunisia contributed to the event through the experience of their countries.

The identification phase of victims of trafficking in human beings is a crucial step in guaranteeing the fundamental rights of victims and ensuring their access to adequate care. Identifying a victim is a complicated process that requires extensive research and standardised procedures because victims of trafficking are often "in great psychological fragility, a certain isolation, ignorance of their 'victim' situations".

Through the identification process, the competent authorities "research and assess the different circumstances according to which they may consider a person to be a victim of trafficking". The adoption of a list of indicators that can allow for the recognition, through evidence collected from the victim, of the existence of objective factors determining that the respondent is a victim of trafficking is an instrumental step to ensure adequate identification and referral of victims by all competent authorities.