The 38th meeting of the Committee of the Parties to the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings took place on 3 July 2026 in Strasbourg and online.

At the outset of the meeting, the Committee re-elected Ambassador Sini Paukkunen-Mykkänen (Finland) as Chair and Ambassador Agnese Vilde (Latvia) as Vice-Chair for a second term of office of one year.

On the basis of GRETA’s reports, the Committee adopted recommendations concerning  Bosnia and Herzegovina, France, Latvia, Malta, Norway, Portugal and United Kingdom, as part of the fourth evaluation round of the Convention.

The Committee also considered the reports submitted by the authorities of Andorra, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Monaco, the Netherlands and Switzerland on measures taken to comply with the Committee’s recommendations issued as part of the third evaluation round of the implementation of the Convention.

Furthermore, the Committee of the Parties discussed the risks of human trafficking in the context of the unlawful deportation and forcible transfer of children of Ukraine by Russian authorities.

In addition, the Committee held an exchange on new trends in trafficking in human beings which pose particular challenges to State Parties and innovative solutions to address them. Discussions focused on human trafficking for the purpose of exploitation in criminal activities, in particular of children; trafficking of persons from Latin America for sexual and other forms of exploitation; and human trafficking for the purpose of labour exploitation.