Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly

1. The Parliamentary Assembly refers to its Resolution 1702 (2010) on action against trafficking in human beings: promoting the Council of Europe convention, noting the primacy and relevance of the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (CETS No. 197), an instrument aimed at ensuring effective prevention of trafficking, prosecuting traffickers and protecting victims. It stresses the primary role of the monitoring mechanism laid down in the convention, particularly the Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA).

2. The Assembly asks the Committee of Ministers to:

2.1. step up its co-operation with the European Union, the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe and the United Nations, while taking care to uphold the primacy of the Council of Europe convention in this field;

2.2. ensure that the Council of Europe’s standards in terms of combating trafficking in human beings are uniformly applied throughout Europe and used as a reference for all international instruments currently being developed in the field of action against trafficking in human beings;

2.3.1.       by enhancing dialogue between them;

2.3.2.       by taking care to avoid all risk of duplication between the different monitoring mechanisms, taking due account of the primacy of GRETA;

2.3.3.       by co-operating effectively with GRETA.

3. It invites the Committee of Ministers to:

3.1. promote the widest possible signature and ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings, including by the European Union, and explicitly to ask the member states of the Council of Europe which have not yet done so to sign and/or ratify it;

3.2. hold regular exchanges of views with the Committee of Parties to the convention and GRETA;

3.3. provide GRETA with the requisite staffing and financial resources to ensure its effective functioning;

3.4. encourage member states to sign and ratify the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, if they have not yet done so.

¹Assembly debate on 26 January 2010 (4^th Sitting) (see Doc. 12096, report of the Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men, rapporteur: Mrs Wurm and Doc. 12134, opinion of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, rapporteur: Mr Prescott). Text adopted by the Assembly on 26 January 2010 (4^th Sitting).