Strasbourg, 05/10/2012 (Agence Europe) - Developing, signing and ratifying a convention is not enough - it's still necessary to check that it is applied properly on the ground. So goes the text on the trafficking of human beings adopted on 6 May 2005. A year later the Group of Experts Against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) was implemented, and seven years later - this Thursday 4 October - GRETA's second activity report was delivered to the public in Strasbourg. Ratified by 37 of the 47 member states of the Council of Europe (22 of which belong to the EU), this convention struggles to be applied in a satisfactory way, Thorbjorn Jagland, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, said straightaway, adding “it remains a tragedy across our continent”.
Sexual violence, exploitation, forced labour, organised crime, incomplete inquiries and sentences that are too light in some countries… The list is more like a nightmare than a poem, which led Jagland to urge “all the countries of the continent to intensify the fight again human trafficking” by means of “greater collaboration between international organisations, national authorities and NGOs”. The phenomenon is like a real scourge - and the measure of it can be gauged by reading the figures published by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and quoted by GRETA. Indeed, in June 2012, 21 million victims of forced labour were listed globally, including 880,000 in the member states of the European Union. This is a “market” comparable to that of drugs and arms - the annual turnover of which is estimated at over $30 billion per year, said Petya Nestorova, Secretary General of GRETA. Based on a study of ten countries (Armenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, France, Latvia, Malta, Montenegro, Norway, Poland, Portugal and the United Kingdom), the 2012 report completes a first exercise carried out in 10 member states (Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova, Romania and the Slovak Republic) and published in September 2011. A third report (dedicated to Azerbaijan, Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and FYROM) and a fourth (dedicated to Andorra, Italy, San Marino and Ukraine) are under way, Nestorova said, and although the picture is not exhaustive it already shows some trends. As well as Albania, Bulgaria and Romania, Georgia is also one of the countries with the toughest legislation for punishing human traffickers, with sentences of up to 20 years in prison, according to Nestorova, while in Austria sentences of three years are given - a condemnation which is moreover below the five years minimum required by the European Union under its convention for fundamental rights. Owing to the disparity of the legislative arsenals, and the complexity of a problem where the countries “of origin” and “using” countries are questioned, according to Nestorova, the nebulous “human trafficking” is as sprawling as it is difficult to understand in its entirety to be able to fight it effectively. As for the victims, they are sometimes not identified as such but simply assimilated as illegal migrants who must be returned. The road is still long to put an end to these revolting human rights situations which have no place in the Europe of the 21st century, in Jagland's words, but as Nestorova says, nothing will be possible if the convention's binding arrangements on cooperation are not implemented. A first step would be the signature and ratification by the 47 Council of Europe member states of a text which other countries in the world could also freely join. If we are not in the same boat, linked by the same convention and anxious to apply it, human beings will continue to be trafficked like goods - which is unacceptable, Nestorova says.
A long-term process.
Composed of 15 independent experts, GRETA is following a process divided into several cycles to assess - country by country - the application of the Council of Europe's convention on the fight against human trafficking. The first stage consists of sending a questionnaire to the countries concerned. After receiving the responses, GRETA can ask the national authorities for supplementary information while at the same time maintaining contacts with different relevant NGOs. It can then decide to organise visits to certain countries. At the current time, all the states which are the object of a report have been the object of an assessment on the ground so as to be treated on an equal basis. This step enables the experts to talk to representatives from the competent ministries as well as to parliamentarians, trade unionists, members of NGOs, researchers and representatives from international organisations which are in the countries concerned. It also gives them the chance to meet in structures where the victims of trafficking can find protection and help. (VL/transl.fl)