A delegation of the Council of Europe's Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) carried out an evaluation visit to Austria on 11-14 December 2023, as part of the fourth evaluation round of the Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings.
This was the second visit carried out by GRETA under the fourth evaluation round of monitoring the implementation of the Convention, which focuses on vulnerabilities to human trafficking and measures taken by States Parties to prevent them, detect and support vulnerable victims, and punish the offenders. This includes the use of information and communication technology (ICT), which brings structural changes to the way offenders operate and exacerbates existing vulnerabilities.
Prior to the visit, the Austrian authorities provided a reply to GRETA’s questionnaire for the fourth evaluation round. In addition to the new thematic focus, GRETA examined how the main recommendations made in its third evaluation report on Austria have been implemented.
During the visit, the GRETA delegation met the National Anti-trafficking Co-ordinator, Ambassador Georg Stillfried, and members of the Austrian Task Force on Combating Human Trafficking. Amongst the officials met by GRETA were representatives of the Federal Chancellery, the Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs, the Federal Ministry of Justice, the Federal Ministry of the Interior (including the Federal Criminal Police Office, the Federal Office for Immigration and Asylum and the Financial Intelligence Unit), the Federal Ministry of Labour and Economy, (including the Federal Labour Inspectorate), the Federal Ministry of Social Affairs, Health Care and Consumer Protection, the Federal Ministry of Finance, the Federal Agency for Reception and Support Services (BBU), and the Agricultural and Forestry Inspectorate of Lower Austria.
Further, the delegation met officials from the City of Vienna (Human Rights Office and other relevant departments) and the Regional Government of Carinthia, as well as other relevant agencies in Carinthia,.
Discussions were also held with members of the Human Rights Advisory Council of the Austrian Ombudsman Board.
The GRETA delegation held separate meetings with non-governmental organisations and trade unions. It also met representatives of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)..
Further, the visit provided an opportunity to visit a federal reception centre for asylum seekers in Ossiach, Carinthia.
The visit was carried out by Ms Helga Gayer, President of GRETA, and Mr Sergey Ghazinyan, Second Vice-President of GRETA, who were accompanied by Ms Petya Nestorova, Executive Secretary of the Convention, and Mr Roemer Lemaître of the Secretariat of the Convention.
Following the visit, GRETA will prepare a draft report, which will be sent to the Austrian authorities for comments. GRETA will subsequently adopt a final report, which will be made public.
