The Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) held its 47th plenary meeting from 27 to 31 March 2023, in Strasbourg, France.
GRETA elected its new Bureau for the next two-year period. Helga Gayer, who is Head of the Department for trafficking in human beings, violent crime and missing persons of the German Federal Criminal Police Office, was re-elected as GRETA’s President. Antoaneta Vassileva, senior expert in Animus Association/La Strada Bulgaria and co-ordinator of the Bulgarian Safer Internet Centre, was re-elected as GRETA’s First Vice-President. Sergey Ghazinyan, lecturer at Yerevan State University and the American University of Armenia, was elected as GRETA’s Second Vice-President.
During the meeting, GRETA adopted its final report on Estonia as part of the second evaluation round of the implementation of the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings, and reports on Azerbaijan, Poland, Serbia, Slovenia and Spain as part of the third evaluation round. These reports will be sent to the authorities concerned and will subsequently be made public, together with eventual final comments received from the authorities.
GRETA also approved its draft third round reports on Iceland, the Netherlands and Sweden. 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 draft reports remain confidential until their final adoption.
Furthermore, GRETA issued a statement concerning the United Kingdom’s Illegal Migration Bill, calling on the authorities to uphold their international obligations in combating human trafficking by reconsidering the relevant provisions of the Bill.
The Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) is an independent body which monitors the way countries implement the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings. All member states of the Council of Europe are bound by the Convention, as well as non-member states Belarus and Israel.
