Strasbourg, 01/06/2015 (Agence Europe) - The Council of Europe (CoE) Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings that was opened for signature at the Warsaw Summit in 2005 was signed by Hungary in 2007 and ratified on 4 April 2013. It was against this background that the 15 members of the CoE Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) carried out a first visit to the country and produced a report, published on Friday 29 May.
Some positive points are highlighted, such as the adoption of legislation criminalising human trafficking, two national strategies along with coordination measures.
However, the report underlines the need to allocate sufficient resources to achieve the goals set by these strategies and ensure the full involvement of civil society in this policy.
GRETA stresses the need to continue developing prevention through targeted social and economic empowerment measures for groups vulnerable to human trafficking, in particular Roma, as well as through measures to tackle the root causes of human trafficking for sexual exploitation.
While GRETA welcomes the setting up of a national mechanism to improve the identification of victims of human trafficking and their referral for assistance, it says that further efforts are needed for its full application so that all victims, irrespective of sex, origin or type of exploitation, are identified and assisted.
Moreover, it states that the Hungarian authorities should step up the identification of victims amongst irregular migrants, asylum seekers and unaccompanied foreign minors.
The report also welcomes the involvement of the Hungarian authorities in international investigations in human trafficking cases but is concerned at the low number of convictions and level of sanctions in Hungary. It therefore calls on the authorities to take measures to ensure that human trafficking cases are investigated and prosecuted effectively, leading to proportionate and dissuasive sanctions.
On the basis of the GRETA report and the comments of the Hungarian authorities, the Committee of the Parties to the Convention will consider adopting recommendations addressed to the Government of Hungary.
The convention on action against human trafficking has been signed by 42 CoE member states: Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Republic of Moldova, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Serbia, the Slovakian Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Ukraine and the United Kingdom. Belarus became the first non-CoE member to accede to the convention on 26 November 2013. Turkey has signed the convention but has yet to ratify it. (Véronique Leblanc)