Back Time to deliver on commitments to protect people on the move from human trafficking and exploitation

Time to deliver on commitments to protect people on the move from human trafficking and exploitation

On 12 September 2019, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatović, published a Human Rights Comment entitled: “Time to deliver on commitments to protect people on the move from human trafficking and exploitation”. In the comment, she pointed out that few human rights violations are so universally condemned by Council of Europe member states as the exploitation of the most vulnerable, namely people on the move. This group contains refugees and asylum seekers, seasonal labourers or domestic workers as well as irregular migrants. The Commissioner recalled that Article 4 of the European Convention on Human Rights provides that no one shall be held in slavery or servitude, and that no one shall be required to perform forced or compulsory labour and that the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings imposes obligations on states parties to prevent trafficking, protect its victims, and prosecute and punish perpetrators. Furthermore, she specified that the Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse, also known as the Lanzarote Convention, contains a set of protective and criminal law measures that would also be applicable to child migrants subject to sexual exploitation or abuse.

The Commissioner highlighted that she is helping member states to meet their obligations effectively. In Albania, for example, she discussed with the authorities about their efforts to step up the prevention and detection of trafficking within their border control practices and called for measures to ensure access to free legal aid. In Greece, she urged the authorities to resolutely fight against labour exploitation and to fully implement the the Chowdury case. In Hungary, she commended efforts made to reduce the disappearance of unaccompanied migrant and asylum seeking children but noted the need, identified by GRETA, for further action, including by training staff, legal guardians and foster families. In her report, she also highlighted the need to protect all children from sexual violence and exploitation, in particular by following the Lanzarote Committee’s recommendation not to detain them in transit zones.

Examples of migration policies impacting on the rights of victims of human trafficking are numerous: delays in asylum procedures can affect the access to protection of all those in need of it, such as the timely identification of victims of human trafficking. Furthermore, inadequate reception conditions can create additional risks for exploitation, in particular of women and children.

In the Commissioner´s recent Recommendation on the situation in the Mediterranean shows how lack of access to Europe is failing victims of trafficking. It is by now well-known that many who eventually end up at sea have been subjected to serious abuse and those helping them are increasingly criminalised and accused of collaboration in smuggling of migrants or, with cruel irony, of trafficking in human beings.

It is essential that Council of Europe member states now deliver on their commitments to fight human trafficking and protect victims, especially people on the move. In this context, they should:

  • redouble their efforts to address all forms of trafficking in human beings and exploitation of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants, by fully meeting their obligations under the ECHR and the Anti-Trafficking Convention, including by swiftly implementing recommendations made by GRETA
  • review closely how their internal and external migration policies are impacting on the prevention of trafficking, as well as the identification and protection of victims, and their access to assistance
  • expand safe and legal migration routes as a measure to prevent human trafficking
  • prioritise early identification of victims or potential victims among asylum seekers upon arrival
  • ensure adequate reception conditions for asylum seekers to reduce vulnerability to exploitation, and specifically prioritise the safe reception of unaccompanied refugee and migrant children, including through setting up and maintaining effective guardianship systems
  • make sure that victims receive appropriate assistance, including by guaranteeing access to legal aid and by ensuring that their (lack of) legal status does not in any way prevent or discourage them from lodging complaints against perpetrators.
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