The Council of Europe’s Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) has urged Estonia to strengthen its efforts to prevent and combat trafficking for the purpose of labour exploitation and improve the identification of victims. These are among the main proposals for action included in GRETA’s latest report evaluating Estonia’s implementation of the Council of Europe’s anti-trafficking Convention, published today.
The report notes that Estonia continues to be a country of origin and transit of trafficked persons but is also increasingly becoming a country of destination. While between 2018 and 2021 trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation was the main form of exploitation amongst the 27 formally identified victims, labour exploitation was predominant among the 264 presumed victims of trafficking (mostly men from Ukraine and Poland).
GRETA welcomes a number of positive developments since its first report in 2018, including amendments to the Criminal Code to expand the criminalisation of trafficking in human beings, the adoption of a new Victim Support Act, as well as changes to legal acts related to the employment of foreign workers and posted workers. Efforts were also made to provide professionals with training, raise awareness, especially among Ukrainian refugees, and investigate human trafficking crimes committed online.
Nevertheless, a number of challenges remain. The report stresses the need to better address labour exploitation, for example by strengthening the capacity of labour inspectors to detect possible victims and providing further training for front-line professionals.
Specific measures should also be taken to prevent the risks of trafficking among children who are asylum seekers and unaccompanied children, including the risks of recruitment through the Internet and social networks.
In addition, GRETA urges the Estonian authorities to improve the identification of victims of trafficking, provide social, legal and psychological assistance, including specialised accommodation facilities, and facilitate and guarantee access to compensation for victims.
The authorities should ensure that foreign victims of trafficking are systematically informed of the possibility to benefit from a recovery and reflection period, and that they can benefit in practice from the right to obtain a renewable residence permit, without prejudice to the right to seek and enjoy asylum.
Finally, GRETA recommends to continue training efforts and to take further measures to ensure that cases of trafficking in human beings are investigated proactively, prosecuted successfully and result in proportionate and dissuasive convictions.
The Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) is an independent body which monitors the way countries implement the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings. All member states of the Council of Europe are bound by the Convention, as well as non-member states Belarus and Israel.
