The Council of Europe’s group of experts on human trafficking has called on the Dutch authorities to take a number of further steps to tackle human trafficking and to ensure that trafficking victims have access to justice. In its third report on the Netherlands the Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) notably urged the authorities to take specific measures to tackle trafficking for labour exploitation and to protect child victims of trafficking.
The report highlights a number of positive developments since GRETA’s last evaluation of the Netherlands in 2018. Relevant national laws and policies have continued to develop, funding for specialised bodies has increased and most municipalities have adopted anti-trafficking policies. However, GRETA also expresses concern about the decreasing number of investigations, prosecutions and convictions for human trafficking, in particular for labour exploitation, and the length of criminal proceedings in trafficking cases.
In the report, GRETA notably urges the Dutch authorities to intensify their efforts to prevent and combat human trafficking for labour exploitation, and to strengthen their efforts to investigate and prosecute such cases. This includes taking further steps to regulate recruitment and temporary work agencies. More victims of trafficking for the purpose of labour exploitation should also be able to obtain compensation from the perpetrators, according to GRETA.
