Ambassador Tichy-Fisslberger,
Assistant Secretary-General Puri,
President Le Coz,
Distinguished colleagues,
Ladies and gentlemen,

I am honoured to have the opportunity to address you today.

I am also extremely grateful to the Permanent Mission of Austria to the United Nations, for helping us make this event possible. 

One hundred and sixty years ago, Abraham Lincoln spoke out passionately about the "monstrous injustice of slavery." 

Sadly, this monstrous injustice is very much alive and well today – in the form of human trafficking.

Human trafficking is modern slavery.

There can be no denying that.

It is one of the most vicious forms of violence.

It is one of the biggest evils facing humanity today. 

According to the International Labour Organisation, there are over 21 million victims of forced labour across the world.

They continue to be exploited and traded as a commodity, across borders and within their own countries.

They continue to be robbed of their rights.

The majority of these victims are women and girls.

We therefore need to do more to empower women and girls in all corners of the world, in order to prevent them from falling into the deep net of modern slavery.

Together, we must do more to tackle the root causes of human trafficking.

This has been – and will continue to be – one of the main priorities of the Council of Europe.

For several years now the Council of Europe – in partnership with other international organisations and civil society – has been actively engaged in combating human trafficking in our 47 member states and beyond.

At the heart of the Council of Europe's fight is our Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings, which entered into force in 2008.

The Convention is an international legally-binding instrument which contains the most developed anti-trafficking standards.

It has been ratified by 41 countries and is open for signature to any country in the world.

The Convention covers a lot of ground.

It covers all forms of trafficking, whether national or transnational.

It covers all victims of trafficking, women, men as well as children.

It also covers all types of exploitation, including forced labour and sexual exploitation.

With more countries edging closer to ratification, the Convention is gaining momentum – demonstrating the commitment of governments across Europe to tackle human trafficking.

One of the important added values of the Council of Europe Convention is its monitoring mechanism composed of the Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA).

I am very pleased that GRETA's President, Mr Le Coz, is with us today.

To date, 26 GRETA country-by-country reports have been made public, providing us with a comprehensive picture of the situation on the ground.

It is clear from these reports that although considerable efforts are being made at the national and international level, much remains to be done to protect the fundamental rights of victims of trafficking.

We still have a long way to go in order to make human trafficking a thing of the past, once and for all.

So how do we make this happen?

I would like to briefly touch on three areas that I find very important in our fight against human trafficking:

• discouraging demand,
• adopting a victims-first approach and
• combatting gender-based discrimination.

First, discouraging demand.

It is important that measures discouraging demand should target all forms of exploitation and not just the sex industry.

The absence of effective regulation within certain labour market sectors, such as domestic work, creates a fertile environment for trafficking to flourish.

I am encouraged to see that GRETA has noted a number of good practices in this field.

One such example is the Gangmasters Licensing Authority (the GLA) in the United Kingdom.

The GLA was set up to regulate the supply of workers in labour-intensive industries – from food processing and forestry to agriculture and shellfish gathering.

It does this by operating a licensing scheme for labour providers which includes regular inspections.

Part of the GLA's success so far lies in its legal muscle: it has extensive powers needed to ensure effective investigation. 

Of course, action aimed at decreasing demand cannot be limited to Western European countries.

In the Republic of Moldova and in Ukraine we have seen steps being taken to license companies providing services to facilitate employment, travel or marriage overseas.

These measures give us hope.

They are a step in the right direction.

But they are not enough. 

Decisive action must be taken against push factors such as destitution, discrimination and social exclusion.

Second, adopting a victims-first approach.

The Council of Europe's human trafficking Convention makes it crystal clear that it is vital that the victim's rights and well-being must always come first.

The sad truth is that many victims of trafficking continue to be blamed and shamed.

Many victims are treated like criminals.

It is therefore vital that victims receive effective legal remedies.

Parties to the Council of Europe's Convention are obligated to provide for the right of trafficking victims to compensation from the perpetrators.

They must also adopt legislative measures to guarantee compensation for victims from the state.

Sadly, GRETA's monitoring of the Convention shows that even when there are possibilities prescribed in law for granting compensation, in practice this right remains theoretical.

In reality, few victims benefit from compensation schemes. 

There are still too many hurdles that victims have to jump over in order to receive compensation.

Hurdles such as lack of information regarding their right to compensation as well as lack of access to legal aid.

This needs to change.

And this needs to change fast.

Compensation and – most importantly – access to justice are crucial to foster the empowerment of trafficked persons and to prevent re-trafficking.

The Council of Europe is in the process of defining a project in Romania, with funding from the Norway Grants, which will help ensure effective access to financial compensation and legal aid for the victims of human trafficking.

Distinguished colleagues,

Our mission is clear.

Together, we need to do more – much more – to make sure that victims receive not only care and protection, but also the help needed to recover and rebuild their lives.

We need to help victims restore their dignity and integrity.

We need to help victims rehabilitate and reintegrate in society.

Third, and finally, combatting gender-based discrimination.

Human trafficking does not take place in a vacuum.

We live in a world in which many women and girls are forced to live lives punctuated by discrimination and outright violence.

As a result of gender-based discrimination, women and girls have limited life options.

In many countries, the low social and economic status of women and the patriarchal systems of power make women more vulnerable to human trafficking.

If we are to halt human trafficking we must combat gender inequality and injustice.

We must achieve greater equality between men and women.

Greater equality in the workplace.

Greater equality in politics and society.

But also greater equality at home and within families.

We need to remember that gender equality does not only mean non-discrimination on grounds of gender.

It is also about achieving equality between women and men by supporting specific policies for empowering women who are more likely to be exposed to exploitation.

In Romania, anti-trafficking legislation provides for special measures for the integration into the labour market of persons at high risk of being trafficked, especially women in very poor areas.

The law envisages incentives to companies which hire persons at high risk of being trafficked and states that victims of trafficking should benefit from access to the labour market as a form of prevention.

Measures such as these are already starting to show positive results.

But as we push ahead we must remember that it is not enough to merely introduce new laws and change outdated ones – although that of course is also very important.

We must also change outdated mindsets and a culture of impunity.

That is why it so important that schools and awareness-raising campaigns do their bit to promote gender equality and help eradicate the stigmatisation of trafficking victims.

Dear Friends,

The first five years of monitoring the implementation of the Council of Europe Convention by GRETA show that there is a growing awareness of human trafficking and a greater willingness to act.

Most Council of Europe Member States have adopted national anti-trafficking action plans and have set up co-ordination structures to ensure their implementation.

I find this encouraging.

However, we still have much work to do.

It is therefore important that we redouble our efforts to mainstream anti-trafficking action into gender equality as well as anti-discrimination and education policies.

The Council of Europe will never give up this fight.

In addition to standard-setting and monitoring, we will continue supporting member states to reinforce their anti-trafficking efforts through co-operation activities aimed at implementing GRETA's recommendations.

And not only in Europe.

I am convinced that the co-operation framework that the Convention provides could benefit other continents as well.

Only by working together can we end the cycle of agony for millions of human trafficking victims.

Thank you.