On 8-9 November 2017, the Council of Europe organised a regional expert workshop on enhancing international legal co-operation in the fight against trafficking in human beings and the protection of victims’ rights. The aim of the workshop was to promote better co-operation between Parties to the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings in the investigation and prosecution of human trafficking cases, while respecting the human rights of victims of trafficking, in accordance with the provisions of the Convention.

The workshop brought together in Sofia, Bulgaria, some 50 experts from countries in Southern and Eastern Europe as well as international organisations involved in combating human trafficking. Participants discussed existing challenges and studied the use of different tools for facilitating the co-ordination of investigations and prosecutions of cross-border cases of trafficking in human being, including Joint Investigation Teams (JITs).

• Programme
• Concept note

A conference on the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings took place on 8-9 November 2016 in Ankara, Turkey. The conference, which was co-organised by the Anti-Trafficking Division of the Council of Europe and the Directorate General of Migration Management of the Ministry of the Interior of Turkey, followed the entry into force of the Convention in respect of Turkey on 1 September 2016. The event brought together some 60 representatives of governmental agencies and non-governmental and international organisations active in combating human trafficking in Turkey who discussed the provisions of the Convention and the monitoring process of its implementation. The first round of evaluation of the implementation of the Convention by Turkey by GRETA will be launched in the autumn of 2017.

• Link to the Programme of the Conference

On 13 October 2016, the Council of Europe and the Ministry of the Interior and Administration of Poland organised a seminar in Warsaw entitled “Engaging businesses in combating trafficking in human beings for labour exploitation”. The seminar was the concluding event of the project “Improving Poland’s Capacity to Prevent Trafficking in Human Beings” funded by the Norway Grants Financial Mechanism and implemented by the Ministry of the Interior and Administration with the Council of Europe.

Two reports produced in the context of this project were presented at the seminar: Study on demand reduction measures to combat trafficking in human beings for the purpose of labour exploitation through the engagement of the private sector, prepared by Professor Zbigniew Lasocik*, and Compilation report on emerging good practices by state authorities, the business community and civil society on preventing human trafficking in the business practices and supply chains, by Mike Dottridge.

The seminar brought together some 45 participants from relevant public bodies, diplomatic representations, businesses, trade unions, non-governmental organisations and academia. It raised awareness of human trafficking for the purpose of labour exploitation in Poland and showcased good practices and measures by state authorities, the business community and civil society to prevent it, including in supply chains.

• Concept note and Seminar agenda
• Polish anti-human trafficking portal
• *Professor Lasocik's study is also available in Polish

The Council of Europe and the OSCE organised a joint side event in Vienna on 12 April 2016 on identifying victims of human trafficking in places of detention.

The side event, which took place during the 16th OSCE Alliance against Trafficking in Persons conference entitled “Combating trafficking in human beings for the purpose of forced criminality, addressed the barriers to early identification of victims of trafficking and the investigation of those who have abused them. The detention of trafficked persons not only contravenes the obligation to protect and assist victims, it also discourages them from co-operating with the investigation and ultimately results in the impunity of traffickers. Criminalisation and the experience of imprisonment and deportation can lead to secondary victimisation of trafficked persons, exacerbated by shame, powerlessness and the sense of injustice.

The side-event also explored the role of National Preventive Mechanisms and other bodies inspecting places of deprivation of liberty in detecting victims of trafficking and ensuring that they are referred for identification and assistance.

Panelists included:

• Liz Hales, Visiting Scholar, Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom;
• Silke Mallmann, Psychologist, Co-ordinator of Talitha Centre for Social Assistance and Counselling for Victims of Human Trafficking and Forced Prostitution, Caritas Carinthia, Austria, member of the Austrian National Preventive Mechanism;
• Colin Smith, Barrister and Lecturer, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland.

OSCE side event page

The Council of Europe, in co-operation with the Office for Fight against Trafficking in Human Beings of Montenegro, organised a two-day workshop on enhancing the protection of victims of trafficking in human beings.

The workshop, which took place on 15 and 16 December in Budva, Montenegro, brought together some 33 experts from seven countries in the Western Balkans. Participants included national anti-trafficking co-ordinators, judges, prosecutors, police officers, lawyers and NGO representatives.

 The aim of the workshop was to promote effective access to compensation for victims of trafficking in human beings and better implementation of the non-punishment provision with regard to victims of trafficking. The need to strengthen the capacity of relevant professionals to address these two issues has been stressed by the Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA), which monitors the implementation of the Council of Europe Anti-trafficking Convention.

The Council of Europe, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Bulgarian National Commission for Combatting Trafficking in Human Beings in partnership with the Hanns Seidel Foundation together organised an International Conference held in Sofia from 23 to 24 June 2015 on “the interface between protection of victims of trafficking in human beings and asylum”.

At the conference government officials, academics, civil society actors and representatives of international organisations discussed how to improve the procedures for identifying victims of trafficking in human beings among asylum seekers and how to best provide effective assistance and protection to identified victims.

“As many European countries are facing massive migration flows, many of these migrants are at risk of becoming victims of trafficking in human beings once they reach the countries of destination. It is key that the identification procedures for trafficking victims work well so that they can benefit from the assistance and protection measures contained in the Council of Europe Anti-Trafficking Convention”, stated Gianluca Esposito, from the Council of Europe. 

• Link to the Report of the Conference

A conference organised today at the Council of Europe marked the 10th anniversary of the opening for signature of the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings.   The Convention was opened for signature on 16 May 2005 in Warsaw. It has so far been ratified by 43 countries (42 Council of Europe member States and Belarus).

In his opening statement, Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland called on the Czech Republic, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Russia and Turkey to sign and ratify the Convention.

 The conference focused on the Convention’s innovative features and victim-centred approach, and explored the impact that it has had on states parties’ legislation, policy and practice. Speakers and participants addressed substantive issues in the implementation of the Convention and discussed new challenges. The conference also provided a forum for strengthening international partnerships against trafficking in human beings.

Dedicated conference page

The Council of Europe and the OSCE organised for the second time a joint workshop for judges and prosecutors on enhancing the protection of victims of trafficking in human beings. The workshop focused on the implementation of the non-punishment principle enshrined in Article 26 of the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings, which holds that victims should not be punished for unlawful activities they were forced to commit by their exploiters.

“Non-punishment is tied to the State’s obligations to identify, assist and protect victims, and also to the State’s duty to investigate human trafficking in order to bring the true perpetrator to justice,” said Ambassador Madina Jarbussynova, OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings.

Promoting the non-punishment principle is one of the core areas identified for enhanced co-operation between the Council of Europe and the OSCE following a joint conference held in 2014 organised under the Swiss OSCE Chairmanship and the Austrian Chairmanship of the Council of Europe.

“More and more countries are adopting specific legal provisions concerning the non-punishment of victims of trafficking for offences they were forced to commit by the traffickers, but it is necessary to sensitise prosecutors and judges to the importance of applying these provisions,” said Petya Nestorova, Executive Secretary of the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings.

As a follow-up to the conference “Not for Sale – Joining Forces against Trafficking in Human Beings”, organised in Vienna on 17-18 February 2014 on the occasion of the Austrian Chairmanship of the Council of Europe and the Swiss OSCE Chairmanship, the Council of Europe and the OSCE are organising a joint workshop for members of the judiciary and prosecutors.

The aim of the workshop is to promote better implementation of the non-punishment provision with regard to victims of trafficking in human beings. Article 26 of the Council of Europe Convention of Action against Trafficking in Human Beings requires States Parties to “provide for the possibility of not imposing penalties on victims for their involvement in unlawful activities, to the extent that they have been compelled to do so”. Similarly, the 2013 Addendum to the OSCE Action Plan on Combating Trafficking in Human Beings calls upon participating States to “take adequate measures to ensure that, where appropriate, identified victims of trafficking are not penalised for their involvement in unlawful activities to the extent that they have been compelled to do so”.

The workshop will take place on 9-10 October 2014 in Strasbourg.

Programme

Practical information

The President of GRETA, Nicolas Le Coz, spoke at two side events on combating trafficking in human beings during the 26th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

The first side event, on 12 June 2014, was organised by Austria, the Republic of Moldova and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. It was entitled “Fighting trafficking in human beings: fostering partnerships and co-ordination – good practices” and aimed at promoting the implementation of international legally binding instruments, such as the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings. Other speakers included Joy Ngozi Ezeilo, UN Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons, especially women and children, Elisabeth Tichy-Fisslberger, Austrian National Coordinator on combating human trafficking, Ana Revenco, Director of the Moldovan Centre for combating trafficking in persons, and Irena Fercik Konečná of La Strada International.

The second side event took place on 13 June 2014. It was organised by the Moroccan Interministerial Delegation for Human Rights and the Kingdom of Morocco and was entitled “Combatting Human Trafficking: Comparative Experiences and Best Practices”. The purpose of this side event was in particular to share views on how to fight better trafficking on the basis of international standards, such as the Council of Europe Anti-trafficking Convention, and by drawing inspiration from national good practices.

Trafficking in human beings - a severe form of violence against women and girls and a flagrant violation of human rights:

The Council of Europe response

A Side Event at the 58th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women
co-organised by the Council of Europe
and the Permanent Mission of Austria to the United Nations

Monday 10 March 2014, 1.15 – 2.30 pm
CR1 Conference Building, UN Headquarters, NEW YORK

Trafficking in human beings violates the human rights and affects the lives of countless people around the world. The vast majority of these victims are women and girls. While sexual exploitation continues to prevail, trafficking of women and girls for other forms of exploitation, such as domestic servitude, forced marriage and forced begging, is on the rise. Gender-based discrimination and gender-based violence are both root causes and consequences of human trafficking.

The Council of Europe is actively combating trafficking in human beings in its member States and beyond, in partnership with other international organisations and civil society. The Council of Europe’s commitment to combating human trafficking reached an important stage in 2005 with the adoption of the Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings. The Convention takes a victim-oriented perspective to anti-trafficking action and provides for a series of rights for victims of trafficking. While applying to women, men and children, the Convention recognises that measures to prevent and combat trafficking in human beings require guaranteeing gender equality and using gender mainstreaming in the development, implementation and assessment of anti-trafficking policies. The Convention has already been ratified by 41 countries and is open for accession to countries which are not members of the Council of Europe.

The Side Event will present the added value of the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings in the framework of international standards and the monitoring mechanism set up to ensure compliance with the Convention’s provisions, in particular the reports of the Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA). GRETA has almost finalised the first round of the evaluation of the Convention and its country-by-country reports provide information on trends, good practices and gaps. The Side Event will also provide an opportunity to exchange on the particular challenges for women and girls, with a focus on trafficking for the purpose of domestic servitude.

Keynote speakers

• Gabriella Battaini-Dragoni, Deputy Secretary General, Council of Europe
• Elisabeth Tichy-Fisslberger, Ambassador, Director General for Legal and Consular Affairs at the Austrian Foreign Ministry, Austrian National Coordinator on Combating Trafficking in Human Beings
• Lakshmi Puri, Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations and Deputy Executive Director of UN Women
• Anne Brasseur, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
• Beate Andrees, Head, Special Action Programme to Combat Forced Labour, International Labour Organization
• Nisha Varia, Senior Researcher, Women’s Rights Division, Human Rights Watch

Moderator

• Nicolas Le Coz, President of the Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA)

The Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings

Opened for signature in Warsaw in May 2005, the Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings entered into force in 1 February 2008. It is a far-reaching treaty which goes beyond the minimum standards agreed upon in the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women in Children, supplementing the UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime (“the Palermo Protocol”).

The main added value of the Council of Europe Convention lies in the affirmation in its preamble that trafficking in human beings is a violation of human rights and an offence to the dignity and the integrity of the human being. The Convention takes a victim-oriented perspective to anti-trafficking action and provides for a series of rights for victims of trafficking, in particular the right to be identified as a victim, to be protected and assisted, to be allowed to stay in the country of destination for a minimum of 30 days in order to recover and longer if their personal situation so requires or they need to stay in order to co-operate in a criminal investigation, and to receive financial compensation for the damages suffered.

Another important added value of the Convention is the setting up of a mechanism to monitor the compliance with the obligations contained in the Convention. This monitoring mechanism, consisting of the Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) and the Committee of the Parties to the Convention, works to ensure that the Convention’s provisions do not remain a dead letter but are effectively implemented. GRETA draws up reports in respect on each Party to the Convention containing a detailed analysis of the national anti-trafficking action, identifying gaps and good practices, and providing recommendations concerning the way in which the authorities may strengthen the implementation of the Convention. Furthermore, GRETA works to clarify the substantive content of key obligations contained in the Convention.

The Council of Europe also supports governments in the implementation of the Convention and the recommendations emerging from the monitoring process. In addition, activities are organised to promote the Convention beyond the European continent so that its provisions and the co-operation framework that it provides can benefit other regions as well.

Link to CSW 58 website

Organised by the Council of Europe and the OSCE on the occasion of the Austrian Chairmanship of the Council of Europe and the Swiss OSCE Chairmanship.

This conference is organised by the Austrian Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs, the Austrian Federal Ministry of the Interior, the Council of Europe, the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe and the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs.

The aim of the conference is to take stock of the progress made in the implementation of the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings. It will also provide an opportunity to exchange on practices and tools developed on the basis of the OSCE Action Plan to Combat Trafficking in Human Beings and how legally binding standards, monitoring mechanisms and political strategies can mutually reinforce each other and lead to effective action to counter trafficking in human beings.

Conference documents:

Draft agenda
Information package
Link to the OSCE webpage on the conference

A regional workshop for legal practitioners involved in providing legal assistance to trafficked persons in South East Europe took place on 10-11 December in Belgrade.

The workshop was organised by the Anti-Trafficking Division of the Council of Europe in co-operation with the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR). It brought together some 30 legal practitioners from 10 countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Montenegro, "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”, Serbia, Republic of Moldova and Slovenia.

The workshop covered a variety of themes, including legal assistance at the stage of identification, during investigation, in court and when claiming compensation and provided a forum for exchanging good practices.

Agenda from the regional workshop for legal practitioners

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).

In an opening statement at the outset of the conference, Ms Marja Ruotanen, Director of Justice and Human Dignity at DG 1 Human Rights and Rule of Law of the Council of Europe, said: “Human trafficking targets the most vulnerable people of our societies - it breaks the lives of women, men and children. All countries, whether of origin, transit or destination, are concerned by the need to step up prevention. This conference aims to make the link between prevention at the source, in countries of origin, where lack of employment opportunities, social exclusion, ethnic and gender discrimination drive people into the hands of traffickers, and prevention at the receiving end, in countries where demand for cheap labour or sexual services makes it possible for traffickers to treat human beings as merchandise.”

The conference was organised around four main themes:

• prevention among minorities at risk, with a special focus on the Roma communities;
• measures to discourage demand, including through private-public partnerships;
• role of research and data collection in the prevention of trafficking in human beings;
• alternative/interactive awareness-raising methods.

Participants shared experiences on various aspects of prevention of trafficking in human beings, with an emphasis on a comprehensive, human rights-based approach and international partnerships. The Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings and the reports of the Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) provided a framework for the discussions.

Link to the programme of the conference
Link to the list of participants
Link to the speakers’ bios

Activities 2008 and 2009

Joint Council of Europe/United Nations Study on trafficking in organs, tissues and cells and trafficking in human beings for the purpose of the removal of organs

Link to the study - This new joint Council of Europe/United Nations publication was presented at a special launching event in the United Nations headquarters in New York on 13 October 2009 on the occasion of the 64th Session of the United Nations General Assembly.

The study stresses that trafficking in human beings for the purpose of organ removal is a small part of the wider problem of organs, tissues and cells (OTC) and highlights that there is widespread confusion in the legal and scientific communities between the two types of trafficking, which require different solutions.
Executive Summary of the Joint Study

Expert Seminar on the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings, Madrid, 2-3 December 2008.
Proceedings of the Conference

An Expert Seminar on the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings took place in Madrid on 2-3 December 2008. The seminar provided technical assistance on the implementation of the measures contained in the Convention and promoted further ratifications of the Convention.

The seminar, which took place in the framework of the Spanish Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe,  was organised by the Gender Equality and Anti-Trafficking Division of the Directorate General of Human Rights and Legal Affairs, in co-operation with the Ministry for Equality of Spain, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Spain and the Spanish Diplomatic School. Ms Bibiana Aido Almagro, Minister for Equality of Spain, Ms Victoria Scola, Special Ambassador of the Spanish Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, and Mr Angel Lossada, Secretary of State of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation  gave opening addresses.

Participants and speakers included national governmental representatives responsible for preventing and combating trafficking in human beings, representatives of academia, as well as representatives of national and international NGOs active in this field.

The first working session of the seminar gave a general overview of the measures contained in the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings. The following sessions were devoted to specific aspects, including the need for national coordinating bodies for combating trafficking, the necessity to adopt a multidisciplinary approach in preventing trafficking, civil society’s action to prevent trafficking, the question of the identification of victims of trafficking, the recovery and reflection period, the need to criminalise trafficking in human beings, as well as an overview of the monitoring mechanism of the Convention.

Participants exchanged experiences in implementing the measures contained in the Convention and those countries which have not yet ratified the Convention were encouraged to do so.

Seminar Proceedings THB-ES-ESP(2008)