On 25th of November, the next GRETA elections will take place. The terms of office of 7 of the 15 current members of the Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings will expire on 31 December. The list of nominated candidates is public now; 17 State Parties to the Convention have proposed a total of 25 candidates for the election.
As always, La Strada International is monitoring the elections and is happy to see so many well-qualified candidates, with whom the LSI secretariat and members have closely worked. These include former staff and board members of LSI and members; Ms Antoaneta VASSILEVA (Bulgaria), Ms Irena FERČIKOVÁ KONEČNÁ (Czech Republic) and Ms Anne BRANDT CHRISTENSEN (Denmark) and Ms Georgina VAZ CABRAL (France) as well as close allies: Ms Biljana LUBAROWSKA; Ms Vanessa SIMONI (France); Mr David MANCINI and Ms Francesca NICODEMI (Italy) and Ms Radmila DRAGIČEVIĆ DIČIĆ (Serbia).
GRETA members are selected among nationals of States Parties to the Convention on the basis of their competence in the areas covered by the Convention. GRETA members sit in their individual capacity and must be independent and impartial in the exercise of their functions. The term of office of GRETA members is four years, renewable once. GRETA is responsible for monitoring the implementation of the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings by the Parties.
La Strada International considers the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings an important binding human rights treaty to effectively fight trafficking in human beings. It sets out a series of minimum measures that states are obliged to take with a view to ensuring the protection of the human rights of trafficked persons, the prevention of trafficking and the prosecution of those responsible for it. The binding assistance and protection measures include a recovery and reflection period as well as a range of assistance and protection measures for persons reasonably believed to have been trafficked that are not conditional on a person’s agreement to cooperate in any law enforcement efforts against the traffickers, and in some circumstances, a renewable residence permits to trafficked persons. The strengths of the treaty’s provisions are reinforced by the fact that parties to the treaty have all agreed to have their implementation of its provisions monitored by GRETA.