In its third report on Cyprus, the Council of Europe’s Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) analyses trafficking victims’ access to justice and effective remedies and examines progress in the implementation of previous GRETA recommendations. The report acknowledges that in recent years Cyprus has taken some positive steps to improve its legislation and policies to combat trafficking in human beings. In 2019, amendments were made to the anti-trafficking legislation, increasing significantly the penalties for human trafficking and criminalising the use of sexual services of victims of trafficking. The Multidisciplinary Co-ordinating Group adopted a new National Action Plan against human trafficking for 2019-2021. Further, a National Referral Mechanism for the identification and referral to assistance of victims of trafficking was established in 2016. However, GRETA is concerned that during the period under review (2015-2019), no legal aid has been provided to trafficking victims, and only two applications for legal aid for the purpose of claiming compensation have been approved by the Attorney General’s Office. There are no examples of compensation granted by decision of a criminal court judge in human trafficking cases. Furthermore, the setting up of the victim support fund, which can be used to compensate victims of trafficking, has been delayed, and no victim of trafficking has so far received state compensation in Cyprus. GRETA therefore calls on the Cypriot authorities to ensure that victims receive specialised legal assistance and free legal aid at an early stage of criminal proceedings, and to set up a victim support fund as a priority. GRETA further urges the authorities to facilitate and guarantee access to compensation from perpetrators, including by collecting evidence about the harm the victim has suffered and the financial gain from the exploitation, as part of criminal investigations.

post

page

attachment

revision

nav_menu_item

custom_css

customize_changeset

oembed_cache

user_request

wp_block

wp_template

wp_template_part

wp_global_styles

wp_navigation

wp_font_family

wp_font_face

acf-taxonomy

acf-post-type

acf-field-group

acf-field

ai1ec_event

exactmetrics_note

Business Models and Labour Standards: Making the Connection
Guidance

This report is aimed at opening up a new front of discussion that looks at how business models create these downward pressures on labour standards and argues that until such models are changed the problems with the Corporate Social Responsibility (C...Read More

TAGS:
Disrupting Harm in Malaysia: Evidence on Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse
Guidance

Funded by the Global Partnership to End Violence against Children, through its Safe Online initiative, ECPAT International, INTERPOL and UNICEF Office of Research – Innocenti worked in partnership to design and implement Disrupting Harm – a rese...Read More

TAGS: Asia
Explanatory Report to the Guidelines Regarding the Implementation of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography
Guidance

On 30 May 2019, during its 81st session, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (the Committee) adopted its first ever Guidelines for the implementation of one of the legal instruments included under its monitoring mandate. The Guidelines ...Read More

TAGS:
Meaningful Engagement of People with Lived Experience: a framework and assessment for measuring and increasing lived experience leadership across the spectrum of engagement
Guidance

Meaningful Engagement of People with Lived Experience: a framework and assessment for measuring and increasing lived experience leadership across the spectrum of engagement is a first-of-its-kind resource that offers guidance and tools to support o...Read More

TAGS: Global