National Anti-Trafficking Co-ordinators and Rapporteurs from 60 countries met on 15-16 November 2021 in Strasbourg and online for the largest annual meeting of its kind focused on human trafficking. The event, jointly organised for the fourth year by the Council of Europe and the OSCE, brought together representatives of all Council of Europe member States and OSCE participating States, as well as three OSCE Mediterranean Partners for Co-operation.
Action against trafficking in human beings is one of the four priority areas of co-operation between the Council of Europe and the OSCE. The meeting provided an opportunity to discuss how to address current trafficking-related challenges and foster the implementation of international commitments, policies and standards set forth by the OSCE and the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings.
“National Anti-Trafficking Co-ordinators and Rapporteurs play a fundamental role in developing national priorities and aligning efforts across the region. This meeting offers a unique opportunity to raise common challenges, identify priorities for action, and encourage implementation,” said Valiant Richey, OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings.
Petya Nestorova, Executive Secretary of the Council of Europe’s Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings, added: “The annual meetings of National Anti-trafficking Coordinators and Rapporteurs that we co-organise with the OSCE are an opportunity to learn from each other and mutually reinforce our efforts to be more efficient in combating human trafficking.”
Participants discussed new developments and promising practices in combating trafficking in human beings for the purpose of labour exploitation, which has been the subject of increased attention in many countries, with the adoption of new legislation on due diligence and transparency in in companies’ supply chains, and will be the focus of the new recommendation by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe.
The need for National Action Plans to build momentum and maximise national anti-trafficking responses was also discussed. Findings from a recent study conducted by the OSCE show that many countries lack dedicated funding to support the implementation of action plans and current challenges, such as technology-facilitated trafficking, discouraging demand for services provided by trafficking victims, and combating trafficking for labour exploitation are not addressed. These findings are substantiated by GRETA’s monitoring of the implementation of the Council of Europe Anti-trafficking Convention.
Participants also examined ways to improve monitoring and evaluation of State’s anti-trafficking action. Finally, they discussed the need to provide support and assistance to victims of trafficking independent of the criminal justice process, which is a requirement of the Council of Europe Anti-trafficking Convention.
