Public relations and cooperation
Talks and presentations
It is indisputable that both those affected by human trafficking as well as undocumented migrants are first and foremost migrant workers who came to Germany in search of improvements in their economic situation. However, laws which impose restrictions on foreign workers make both groups susceptible to exploitation and blackmail.
The aim of our PR work is to raise awareness among specialists in this area and within society as a whole of this complex problem and its implications for those affected by human trafficking. In this context, we hold regular talks and presentations on this topic in Berlin.
Our audiences include students from both Germany and abroad, participants in international educational programmes, as well as Berlin schoolchildren. Events for smaller groups are held at the coordination and counseling center.
In addition to this, our staff often participate as speakers at conferences and other events on human trafficking and related topics.
Our campaigns
Responsible client. Responsibility can’t be measured in centimeters. No matter how big your dick is, you are the only one able to identify if a woman is being forced to work as a prostitute.
Soap Campaign: The campaign aims to disseminate information in an innovative way by using soap as a give-away instead of traditional leaflets. Soap was chosen because it is useful for all workers and is also gender neutral. The different language versions of the soap allow information to be distributed in a non-threatening way. The languages available are Tagalog/Indonesian, Chinese/Vietnamese, English/Spanish, French/Bulgarian and Turkish/Amharic.
National and international cooperation
Effective cooperation with other organisations is essential in order for us to achieve the aims of our advocacy and lobbying work. We therefore maintain contact with a large network of NGOs, as well as some local authorities and governmental agencies at the regional, national and international level.
Our work at the international level has a number of core areas. Ban Ying e.V. is a founding member of the Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women (GAATW), through which we have close contacts with NGOs in Africa, Asia, Latin and North America, as well as Europe.
At the EU level, Ban Ying e.V. is one of the five German members of the EU Civil Society Platform against Trafficking in Human Beings, which was set up in May 2013 as part of the EU Strategy towards the Eradication of Trafficking in Human Beings 2012–2016. Ban Ying e.V. also is a member of PICUM (Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants) and of the La Strada International NGO Platform.
At the national level, Ban Ying e.V. is a member of a nationwide coordinating group combatting human trafficking (KOK e.V.), and at the regional level we work closely with working groups on migrants and the trafficking of women. We are also part of the Berlin Expert Committee on Human Trafficking and were one of the signatories of the Berlin Cooperation Agreement with the State Bureau of Investigation.
On the issue of domestic workers in diplomatic households, we cooperate with specialist advisory groups working on this topic in other European countries. In this context we are also in contact with the Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). In October 2013 the German public television station WDR broadcasted the documentary film "Access to justice/Schatten der Diplomatie" in which the work of Ban Ying e.V. in this field was presented.