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 Switzerland from 5 to 9 November 2018. The visit provided an opportunity to assess progress in the implementation of the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings since the first evaluation visit to Switzerland by GRETA in 2014.

The GRETA delegation met with representatives of the Federal Office of Police, the Federal Office of Justice, the State Secretariat for Migration, the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, and the Conference for the protection of children and adults.

In addition, meetings were held with stakeholders in the cantons of Bern, Geneva, Luzern, Sankt Gallen, Ticino, Vaud and Zurich, including police officers, prosecutors, labour inspectors, representatives of the victim support offices and migration and asylum staff.

The GRETA delegation held separate meetings with representatives of non-government organisations, trade unions, lawyers and researchers. Further, meetings were held with representatives of the local offices of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

In the course of the visit, the GRETA delegation visited an asylum reception centre in Boudry, three shelters accommodating victims of human trafficking, in the cantons of Bern, Geneva and Vaud, including one for male victims, and an emergency shelter for children in the canton of Sankt Gallen.

The visit was carried out by Mr Ryszard Piotrowicz, Second Vice-President of GRETA, and Ms Alina Braşoveanu, member of GRETA, who were accompanied by Ms Evgenia Giakoumopoulou and Mr Markus Lehner of the Secretariat of the Convention.

Following the visit, GRETA will prepare a draft report which will be sent to the Swiss authorities for comments. GRETA will subsequently adopt a final report, to be published in the autumn of 2019.