Since the late 1980s, the Council of Europe has invested considerable efforts in the fight against trafficking in human beings. These efforts culminated in the adoption, in May 2005, of the Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings and the setting up of a mechanism to monitor compliance with the obligations contained in it. This monitoring mechanism is composed of the Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA), a multidisciplinary panel of 15 independent experts, and the Committee of the Parties to the Convention. GRETA draws up country evaluation reports containing an analysis of the implementation of the Convention by each Party and proposals for further action. On the basis of GRETA’s reports, the political pillar of the monitoring mechanism, the Committee of the Parties, may adopt recommendations concerning the measures to be taken to implement GRETA’s conclusions.

The News

First GRETA report on Bosnia and Herzegovina

Strasbourg, 14 May 2013 – The authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina have taken steps to combat trafficking in human beings, such as appointing a national coordinator and adopting state action plans, but a number of important challenges remain, according to a report published today by the Council of Europe’s expert group on human trafficking, GRETA.

In its first report on Bosnia and Herzegovina, GRETA calls upon the authorities to ensure that human trafficking is criminalised by all criminal codes applicable on the country’s territory (i.e. in Republika Srpska, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Brčko District). At present, only the state criminal code defines human trafficking as a criminal offence and therefore cases of human trafficking are prosecuted only at state level. GRETA urges the authorities to ensure that human trafficking cases are investigated and prosecuted effectively, leading to proportionate and dissuasive sanctions. [More...]

Link to the report

GRETA publishes report on Norway

Strasbourg, 7 May 2013 – The Council of Europe expert group on action against human trafficking (GRETA) calls on the Norwegian authorities to set up a national system for identifying and assisting victims of trafficking.

In its first report on Norway, published today, GRETA acknowledges that Norway has taken significant steps to prevent and combat trafficking in human beings, and commends Norway’s leading role in international efforts to fight human trafficking. That said, a number of important challenges remain, including the need to adopt clear procedures and criteria for identifying victims of trafficking. The report underlines that identification procedures should be improved so that victims of trafficking are not prosecuted for immigration-related offences. [More...]

Link to the report

First GRETA report on Poland published

Strasbourg, 6 May 2013 – The Polish authorities have taken a number of important steps to prevent and combat trafficking in human beings, but several important challenges remain, according to a report published today by the Council of Europe’s expert group on human trafficking, GRETA.

The report notes that the criminalisation of trafficking in human beings in Poland took effect only in September 2010. There is still a significant gap between the number of identified victims of trafficking and the number of successful prosecutions and convictions. [More...]

Link to the report

GRETA’s first evaluation visit to Serbia

Strasbourg, 22 April 2013 - A delegation of the Council of Europe's Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) carried out an evaluation visit to Serbia from 15 to 19 April 2013. The visit was organised in the context of the first round of evaluation of the implementation of the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings.

During the visit, the GRETA delegation met Mr Vanja Vukić, State Secretary at the Ministry of the Interior, Mr Vladimir Božović, State Secretary at the Ministry of the Interior, Mr Milorad Veljović, Director of the Police, and Mr Mitar Djurašković, National Co-ordinator for Combating Human Trafficking. Consultations were also held with senior officials from other relevant ministries, public prosecutors and judges. [More...]

Round-table to support the anti-trafficking efforts in the Republic of Moldova

A round-table meeting on the follow-up to be given to GRETA’s Report and the Committee of the Parties’ Recommendation on the implementation of the Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings by the Republic of Moldova took place in Chisinau on 22 March 2013.
 
The meeting brought together some 33 representatives of governmental and non-governmental organisations who discussed ways in which the Council of Europe can support the Republic of Moldova in its anti-trafficking efforts.

[Click here to access GRETA’s Report and the Committee of the Parties’ Recommendation on the Republic of Moldova]

The Council of Europe Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) elects its new Bureau

Strasbourg, 18.03.2013 - The Council of Europe's Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) elected on 15 March 2013 its President and two Vice-Presidents.

Nicolas Le Coz has been re-elected as GRETA’s President. Mr Le Coz is a lawyer and senior officer in the French National Gendarmerie.

Alina Braşoveanu from the Republic of Moldova has been elected as GRETA’s 1st Vice-President. She is a specialist in human rights law and anti-trafficking action.

Helmut Sax, an Austrian human rights specialist and academic, has been elected as GRETA’s 2nd Vice-President.

These three GRETA members will constitute the Bureau of GRETA for a period of two years.

GRETA is a multidisciplinary group of 15 independent experts tasked with monitoring the implementation of the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings in the 39 States which are currently Parties to this Convention.

GRETA's 16th meeting

The Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) held its 16th meeting on 11-15 March 2013 at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg.

This was the first meeting held by GRETA in its new composition, following the election of eight new GRETA members in November 2012.

The Secretary General of the Council of Europe welcomed the new GRETA members and held an exchange of views with GRETA.

GRETA adopted final evaluation reports on Bosnia and Herzegovina, Norway and Poland, taking into account the comments received from the national authorities. These reports will be sent to the national authorities concerned who will be asked to submit any 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 approved draft reports concerning the implementation of the Convention by Belgium, Ireland and Spain. GRETA decided to transmit these draft reports to the national authorities concerned and to ask them to submit their comments within two months. The comments will be taken into account when GRETA draws up its final evaluation reports. GRETA’s draft reports remain confidential until their final adoption.

In addition GRETA elected its new Bureau for a term of office of two years.  Nicolas Le Coz was re-elected as GRETA's President and Alina Braşoveanu and Helmut Sax were elected respectively as First and Second Vice-President.

List of decisions

More on GRETA and its members ...

Round-table to support the anti-trafficking efforts in Cyprus

A round-table meeting on the follow-up to be given to GRETA’s report and the Committee of the Parties’ recommendation on the implementation of the Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings by Cyprus took place in Nicosia on 4 March 2013.
 
The meeting brought together some 22 representatives of governmental and non-governmental organisations who discussed ways in which the Council of Europe can support Cyprus in its anti-trafficking efforts. [Click here to access GRETA’s Report and the Committee of the Parties’ Recommendation on Cyprus]

The proceedings of the Round table on action against trafficking in human beings which took place in St Petersburg on 18 April 2012 are now available in English and in Russian. This event, which was organised jointly by the Council of Europe, the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), and the Interparliamentary Assembly and the Council of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), brought together some 100 participants, including parliamentarians, public officials from CIS countries, prosecutors, law enforcement officials, researchers and representatives of non-governmental and intergovernmental organisations. [ More...]

The 10th 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 Friday, 15 February 2013.
On the basis of GRETA's reports the Committee of the Parties adopted recommendations addressed to France, Latvia, Malta and Portugal.

The Committee elected Ambassador Joseph LICARI (Malta) as its new Chair for the term of office of one year. Further, as agreed at its previous meeting, the Committee held a preliminary exchange of views on possible amendments to the Rules on the election procedure of the members of GRETA. The Committee agreed to set up an open-ended working group, in order to discuss specific proposals.

The next meeting of the Committee of the Parties will be held on 7 June 2013.

Strasbourg, 31.01.2013 – The Council of Europe’s Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) has warned that official figures may underestimate the scale of trafficking in Latvia. GRETA has also urged the Latvian authorities to take further steps to prevent human trafficking, especially among vulnerable groups.
 
In its first report on Latvia, GRETA highlighted several important steps which have been taken in recent years – including the launch of two national anti-trafficking programmes and the creation of both a national coordinator and an inter-institutional working group. The allocation of resources to help victims was also praised, as was cooperation with NGOs and international organisations. [More...]

Link to report

Strasbourg, 28.01.13 – The Council of Europe’s Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) has urged the French authorities to take a number of steps to improve the country’s fight against trafficking in human beings.
 
In its first report on human trafficking in France, GRETA called upon the authorities to launch a co-ordinated national anti-trafficking action plan as a matter of priority. The expert group also recommended that a nation-wide referral mechanism be set up to formally identify victims of trafficking and ensure that they are helped and protected.
 
The report underlined gaps in data collection and the identification of emerging trends, especially with regard to labour exploitation. Nevertheless, there are indications that there may be several thousand victims of human trafficking in France every year. The number of child victims of trafficking is thought to be increasing, notably with regard to children of Roma origin trafficked from South East Europe to take part in forced begging and theft. [More...]

Link to the report

Strasbourg, 24.01.13 – The Council of Europe’s Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) has published today its first evaluation report on Malta.

In the report, GRETA notes the progress made by the Maltese authorities to develop the institutional and legal framework for combating trafficking in human beings, including the adoption of the first national action plan on combating trafficking in persons in October 2011 and the setting up of the Human Trafficking Monitoring Committee and a Stakeholder Task Force against human trafficking.

The report states that only 25 people in Malta were found to be victims of human trafficking between 2003 and 2011, all of whom were foreign nationals trafficked for sexual exploitation. However, GRETA considers that these figures may not reflect the true situation, given the lack of a formal procedure for identifying victims. The report welcomes the efforts made by the Maltese authorities to review identification and urges them to improve the procedure and to focus more on detecting trafficking for labour exploitation. [More...]

Link to the report

Making Prevention Work: Addressing the Root Causes of Human Trafficking in Europe

The Anti-Trafficking Division of the Council of Europe, in collaboration with the Bulgarian National Commission for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, organised an international expert conference entitled Making Prevention Work: Addressing the Root Causes of Human Trafficking in Europe. The conference took place on 4-5 December 2012 in Sofia, Bulgaria and brought together some 130 participants from 37 countries, including high ranking officials, national anti-trafficking co-ordinators, diplomats, law enforcement officials, social workers, business people, civil society representatives, academics and journalists. There were also representatives of international organisations (UNODC, IOM, OSCE/ODIHR, EU and ICMPD).

[More...]