Estonia actively participates in the fight against trafficking in human beings in the Nordic and Baltic region.

Cooperation on combating violence against women in the Nordic Baltic region had been intensive and fruitful, spawning numerous projects on various topics.

Council of the Baltic Sea States

UNICEF promoted the Initiative in 50 countries, but expansion was really only evident in the Central and Eastern Europe, the Commonwealth of Independent States and Baltic States region (CEE CIS).

E.g. ethnic Russians in the Baltic States.

The campaign in Nordic and Baltic countries

Mr. Marek Tiits, Institute of Baltic Studies, Estonia

For further information on the Task Force on Organised Crime in the Baltic Sea Region please contact the Secretariat of the Task Force email balticsea.sec krp.poliisi.fi , phone 358 9 8388 6951 or fax 358 9 8388 6952.

We plan to conduct an international sea exercise in the Baltic in 2006.

The Nordic Baltic Task Force against Trafficking in Human Beings has been formed.

Estonia had also hosted the third Baltic Sea Women's Conference Women and Democracy .

(d) The Baltic Environment Forum (one workshop for the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)).

Some, like Poland and the Baltic states, have consistently denounced Russia's actions and have demanded a firm response. But, elsewhere in the region, leaders were quick to excuse Russia's invasion and annexation of Crimea, or to argue that Russia is simply too powerful to confront.

It is a pity that the Russian leadership of today has chosen not to condemn the Molotov Ribbentrop Pact that damaged the development of the whole Baltic Sea region for so many years and still is a source of political pollution threatening to poison relations between neighbors around the Baltic Sea. I find it difficult to accept those who tend to describe the Molotov Ribbentrop Pact as only a measure to build up Soviet national security.

The example posed by the Baltic nations does not threaten the Kremlin much, because they are perceived as foreign to the Russian psyche. Indeed, in Soviet films, Baltic actors were usually cast in the roles of Nazi generals and American spies.

The results of the analysis were published in the book Trafficking in women and prostitution in the Baltic states .

Central and Eastern Europe, the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Baltic States (E ICEF 2005 P L.28)

Therefore we must come to terms with history, particularly in the Baltic Sea region, where such a reckoning is a fundamental precondition for building mutual confidence and cooperation. If you want to open new chapters in relations between old adversaries, you cannot simply close old chapters by denying or suppressing history.

E.g. initiatives of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe High Commissioner on National Minorities in the Baltic States.

Baltic IT T Conference, presentation Trends of development of IT T legislation in Latvia http www.dtmedia.lv bitt conference papers Uldis_Kinis.html

Baltic judges Association Conference Report Court and information transparency (comparative analysis in context of the European legislation. ) www.ltb.1v konference

In that context, her Government strongly supported the activities of the Nordic Baltic Task Force against Trafficking in Human Beings.

87. Notes with appreciation the adoption of the Baltic Sea Action Plan, in Krakow, Poland, on 15 November 2007, by the Member States of the Helsinki Commission, the aim of which is to drastically reduce pollution in the Baltic Sea and restore it to a good ecological status by 2021

U. Kinis Censorship and the Internet The Views of an Attorney , Baltic IT T review No. 11 1999., p. 66 75.

The end of the war resulted in the occupation and the renewed annexation of the three Baltic States by the Soviet Union.

Mr. Šerkšnys (Lithuania) I have the honour to speak on behalf of the three Baltic States Estonia, Latvia and my own country, Lithuania.

The Second meeting of Nordic and Baltic ministers of Justice, presentation Through transparency to an information society http meetinp.just.ee topic2_3.php?menyy t2

For the first time, a country in the region is matching its aspirations with the concrete steps needed to become a viable candidate for eventual membership in Euro Atlantic institutions. A visitor to Georgia's capital, Tbilisi, now sees the same level of determination to join the West that existed a decade ago in the Baltic states.

When Lithuania and then the other Baltic States Estonia and Latvia which were occupied by Stalin early in WWII, seized their opportunity for freedom in 1990 91, the Kremlin did not sit on its hands. It knew that the rest of Russia s colonies the so called Soviet republics would want to follow the ungrateful Baltic countries into freedom.

Regional initiatives were reported by Iceland (the Nordic Baltic Campaign against Trafficking in Women) and Namibia (the Southern African Regional Police Chiefs Cooperation Organization).

Problems of actual or potential statelessness arose in the Baltic States following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and following the dissolution of Czechoslovakia.

These conclusions were subsequently confirmed by the Conference of Baltic Sea States' Ministers responsible for Police Co operation held in Germany in May 2002.

The Parties to the Helsinki Convention adopted guidelines for sustainable and environmentally friendly tourism in the coastal zones of the Baltic Sea Area in 2000.

But bad news is emerging from the smaller countries as well, including the Baltic states. Across Central and Eastern Europe, the scene is almost universally depressing.

In 2002 2003 a campaign against trafficking in women in the Nordic and Baltic countries was organised on the initiative of the Nordic Council of Ministers.

In view of the suffering of the Baltic States, we have always felt a very special obligation to strongly support their inclusion in the Euro Atlantic community.

And these vary tremendously from region to region.

The body tasked with coordinating the efforts of the CBSS member countries3 in fighting organised crime is the Task Force on Organised Crime in the Baltic Sea Region4.

The third international Conference Infobalt The Baltic global possibilities, presentation Treats on e business, situation in today and trends in future under juridical review www.infobalt.lt common pranesimai D_Kinis.ppt

There were also joint seminars in the three Baltic capitals, open to government agencies, researchers, police, immigration authorities, NGOs, the media and the public from all eight countries involved.

We have the unexplored region, and we have the explored region.

In addition, supply and demand vary widely from region to region.

U. Kinis Through Transparency to an information society, presentation submitted to the Second Meeting of Nordic and Baltic Ministers of Justice, 2 November 2001, Tallinn http meeting.just.ee topic2_3.php?menyy t2.

Yet, the impacts differ from field to field, from region to region.

Its gas blackmail of Ukraine frightened the entire Continent, and its new Baltic pipeline to Germany has provoked howls of outrage from Poland and the Baltic states, which are angry at losing the economic and political dividends a land route gives them. They are also fearful that Russia will use the energy weapon against them in the future, once the new pipeline allows the Kremlin to do so without affecting Western Europe.