The year 2021 brought an expansion of the area of application of the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings, following the accession of Israel.

The composition of GRETA was partially renewed with the arrival of seven new members, and Helga Gayer was elected as GRETA’s President for a period of two years. The Committee of the Parties to the Convention elected Ambassador Christian Meuwly (Switzerland) as its new Chair.

GRETA managed to carry out 10 country evaluation visits in 2021, including several which had been postponed since 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, GRETA plans to carry out 13 country evaluation visits and counts on the co-operation of State Parties to the Convention to make this ambitious monitoring programme possible.

A new HELP online training module on trafficking for the purpose of labour exploitation was developed in 2021 and will be rolled out in 2022. The work which started in 2021 on drafting a new Committee of Ministers’ recommendation on combating trafficking for the purpose of labour exploitation will continue. A regional conference on this topic will be organised in the Western Balkans.

GRETA’s study on online and technology-facilitated trafficking in human beings will be published in 2022 and its analysis and recommendations will be used to design capacity building activities.

We look forward to pursuing our efforts in collaboration with our national and international partners in 2022.

The Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) held its 42nd meeting from 22 to 26 November 2021 (a combination of physical and online meeting).
During the meeting, GRETA adopted final reports on France and Latvia as part of the third round of evaluation of the Convention. These reports will be sent to the authorities concerned and will subsequently be made public, together with the final comments received from the authorities.
GRETA also approved draft reports on Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Portugal and Norway under the third evaluation round of the Convention.

The 29th meeting of the Committee of the Parties to the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings was held in Strasbourg on 17 December 2021 (a combination of physical and online meeting). During the meeting, the Committee adopted recommendations concerning Malta and the United Kingdom, based on GRETA’s third round evaluation reports. Further, the Committee held an exchange of information on the situation at the border of Belarus with Poland, Lithuania and Latvia, and possible risks with regard to trafficking in human beings.

National Anti-Trafficking Co-ordinators and Rapporteurs from 60 countries - Council of Europe member States and OSCE participating States and Partners for Co-operation - met on 15-16 November 2021 in Strasbourg and online. The event, jointly organised for the fourth year by the Council of Europe and the OSCE, focused on new developments and good practices in combating trafficking in human beings for the purpose of labour exploitation, the development and implementation of National Action Plans against human trafficking, the role of National Rapporteurs or equivalent mechanisms in monitoring and strengthening anti-trafficking action, and developing mechanisms for providing assistance to victims of trafficking irrespective of their readiness to co-operate in the criminal justice process.

On European Anti-Trafficking Day (18 October), GRETA called on governments to counter technology-assisted human trafficking and to consider the best interests of victims when designing and using technological tools to combat trafficking in human beings.
GRETA is currently finalising a study on online and technology-facilitated trafficking in human beings, based on evidence collected from parties to the Council of Europe Anti-Trafficking Convention, civil society organisations and technology companies. The report will provide guidance on preventing, detecting, investigating and prosecuting technology-facilitated human trafficking, as well as international co-operation, co-operation with private companies, and issues related to human rights, ethics and data protection.

The Drafting Committee on Trafficking for the Purpose of Labour Exploitation (DH-TET) was set up by the Committee of Ministers under the authority of the Steering Committee for Human Rights (CDDH) to prepare a draft recommendation of the Committee of Ministers on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings for the purpose of labour exploitation. The recommendation will based notably on the Compendium of Good Practices and the Guidance Note on Preventing and Combating Trafficking in Human Beings for the Purpose of Labour Exploitation developed by the GRETA, as well as on the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights. DH-TET has held two meetings, on 4-5 October 2021 and 29-30 November 2021, and is expected to hold two more meetings in 2022 before submitting the draft recommendation to CDDH. 

The case concerns 33 Bosnia and Herzegovina nationals who were recruited in 2009 and taken to work in Azerbaijan as temporary foreign construction workers by representatives of the company Serbaz Design and Construction LLC. The Court found that the totality of the applicants’ arguments and submissions made both before the domestic courts in their civil claim and before the Court (concerning excessively long work shifts, lack of proper nutrition and medical care, physical and other forms of punishments, retention of documents and restriction of movement) constituted an “arguable claim” that the applicants had been subjected to human trafficking and forced labour. The Court stated that even though the applicants’ claims concerning the alleged forced labour and human trafficking had been sufficiently and repeatedly drawn to the attention of the relevant domestic authorities in various ways, no effective investigation had taken place and, therefore, Azerbaijan had failed to comply with its procedural obligation under Article 4, paragraph 2, of the Convention. Each applicant was awarded compensation for non-pecuniary damage in the amount of 5,000 euros.
In its decision, the Court referred to the findings of GRETA’s 2014 report on Azerbaijan, in particular to the fact that law‑enforcement officials in Azerbaijan had a tendency to see potential cases of human trafficking for labour exploitation as mere labour disputes between the worker and the employer, and that there seemed to be a confusion between cases of human trafficking for labour exploitation and disputes concerning salaries and other aspects of working conditions.