GRETA publishes report on Georgia

Strasbourg, 7 February 2012 - The Council of Europe’s Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) has published today its first evaluation report on Georgia.

In the report, GRETA notes the progress made by the Georgian authorities in combating trafficking in human beings, including through the adoption of a specific anti-trafficking law, the setting up of the Interagency Co-ordination Council against trafficking in human beings and a State Fund for the protection and assistance of victims of trafficking, as well as increasing the budgetary allocation for victim support.

GRETA welcomes the efforts of the Georgian authorities to strengthen prevention through awareness raising, education and training. That said, GRETA stresses the importance of stepping up action to address the socio-economic vulnerability to trafficking of internally-displaced persons, potential migrants and children.
Further, GRETA considers that the Georgian authorities should step up their efforts to improve the proactive detection and identification of victims of trafficking. In this context, increased attention should be paid to the trafficking of foreign nationals to or through Georgia, as well as to trafficking taking place within Georgia.

The Georgian authorities have put in place programmes to provide assistance to victims of trafficking. That said, in practice, very few victims have benefitted from individual rehabilitation and reintegration plans and only a small number of victims have received compensation. GRETA is also concerned by the significant reduction in the number of prosecutions and convictions of traffickers since 2010.

Prior to drawing up its evaluation report, GRETA held consultations with the relevant authorities and non-governmental and international organisations active in the field of combating trafficking in human beings in Georgia. A confidential first draft of the report was sent to the Georgian authorities and their comments were taken into account in the final evaluation report adopted by GRETA. This report is published together with the final comments of the Georgian authorities, as provided for by the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings.

On the basis of GRETA’s report, the Committee of the Parties to the Convention will consider adopting recommendations addressed to the Government of Georgia.

Link to GRETA's report


7th meeting of the Committee of the Parties
 
The 7th meeting of the Committee of the Parties of the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings was held in Strasbourg on Monday, 30 January 2012.
 
The Committee of the Parties re-elected Ambassador Tatiana Pârvu (Republic of Moldova) as its Chair.
 
The Committee also examined four GRETA reports concerning the evaluation of the implementation of Convention by Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia and Denmark and adopted recommendations addressed to these Parties.
 
 
 Next Committee of the Parties meeting:
 8th meeting: 11 June 2012
 
 More on the Committee of the Parties ...


GRETA - 12th meeting

The Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) held its 12th meeting on 6-9 December 2011 at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg.

GRETA adopted its final evaluation reports on Georgia and Moldova as amended in the light of the comments received from the respective authorities. These two reports will now be transmitted to the national authorities concerned, which will be asked to submit their final comments within one month. At the expiry of this time-limit GRETA’s reports, together with eventual comments received from the authorities, will be made public.

GRETA also held an exchange of views with representatives of international non-governmental organisations active in the area of action against trafficking in human beings (Anti-Slavery International, ECPAT International and La Strada International).

Further, GRETA took stock of the evaluations of the 1st group of 10 Parties to the Convention. In order to ensure that country evaluations are completed expeditiously, GRETA decided to shorten from six to four months the time period for Parties to respond to GRETA’s questionnaire.

List of decisions

Next GRETA meeting:
13th meeting: 19-23 March 2012

More on GRETA and its members..... 


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