Israel has become the first-non European country to accede to the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings . The Convention was adopted by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on 3 May 2005, following a series of other initiatives by the Council of Europe in the field of combating trafficking in human beings. It entered into force on 1 February 2008, following its 10th ratification. While building on existing international instruments, the Convention goes beyond the minimum standards agreed upon in them and strengthens the protection afforded to victims.
The Convention has a comprehensive scope of application, encompassing all forms of trafficking (whether national or transnational, linked or not linked to organised crime) and taking in all persons who are victims of trafficking (women, men or children). The forms of exploitation covered by the Convention are, at a minimum, sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude and the removal of organs.
The Convention will enter into force in Israel, which is an observer state to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, on September 1. The Convention is now applicable in every Council of Europe member state except Russia, and also in Belarus.
