The report by the former Secretary General of the Council of Europe, “Ready for Future Chal- lenges – Reinforcing the Council of Europe”, identified trafficking for labour exploitation as one of the major challenges in Europe, referring to the findings of the Council of Europe Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA). Subsequently, at the 129th Ministerial Session in Helsinki, the Committee of Ministers instructed its Deputies to examine ways of strengthening action against trafficking in human beings (CM/Del/Dec(2019)129/2a). On 21 November 2019, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe announced a Roadmap on strengthening action against trafficking in human beings for the purpose of labour exploi- tation, in order to implement the decisions taken at the 129th Ministerial Session.

The compendium is based on country evaluation reports drawn up by GRETA, which reflect the situation in each country at the time of the last evaluation, as well as updated information submitted by the national authorities in response to the Committee of the Parties’ recommen- dations and to GRETA’s questionnaire for the 3rd evaluation round. Care has been taken to present as wide a selection of countries as possible, as well as to have a balance of examples from countries of origin and destination. The compendium is intended as a living document and will periodically be updated in the light of new developments stemming out of GRETA’s monitoring of the Convention.