Evaluation Report Cyprus
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EVALUATION REPORT CYPRUS Third evaluation round G R E T A Access to justice Group of Experts on Action against and effective remedies Trafficking for victims of trafficking in Human Beings in human beings GRETA(2020)04 Publication: 11 June 2020 Secretariat of the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA and Committee of the Parties) Council of Europe F-67075 Strasbourg Cedex France [email protected] www.coe.int/en/web/anti-human-trafficking 2 GRETA(2020)04 _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Contents Preamble ................................................................................................................................ 3 Executive summary ................................................................................................................ 4 I.Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 6 II. Overview of the current situation in the area of trafficking in human beings in Cyprus ... 8 III. Developments in the legislative, institutional and policy framework for action against human trafficking ................................................................................................................... 9 IV. Access to justice and effective remedies for victims of human trafficking .................... 10 1. Introduction ......................................................................................................... 10 2. Right to information (Articles 12 and 15) ............................................................. 12 3. Legal assistance and free legal aid (Article 15) .................................................... 14 4. Psychological assistance (Article 12) ................................................................... 16 5. Access to work, vocational training and education (Article 12) ........................... 16 6. Compensation (Article 15) .................................................................................... 17 7. Investigations, prosecutions, sanctions and measures (Articles 22, 23 and 27) .. 20 8. Non-punishment provision (Article 26) ................................................................ 26 9. Protection of victims and witnesses (Articles 28 and 30) ..................................... 27 10. Specialised authorities and co-ordinating bodies (Article 29) .............................. 29 11. International co-operation (Article 32) ................................................................ 31 12. Cross-cutting issues ............................................................................................. 32 a. gender-sensitive proceedings ..................................................................................... 32 b. child-sensitive procedures for obtaining access to justice and remedies ......................... 33 c. role of businesses ..................................................................................................... 34 d. measures to prevent and detect corruption ................................................................. 35 V. Follow-up topics specific to Cyprus .................................................................................. 35 1. Measures to prevent and combat THB for the purpose of labour exploitation ..... 35 2. Measures to discourage demand .......................................................................... 38 3. Identification of victims of trafficking .................................................................. 39 4. Assistance to victims ............................................................................................ 41 5. Recovery and reflection period ............................................................................. 42 6. Co-operation with civil society ............................................................................. 42 Appendix 1 - List of GRETA’s conclusions and proposals for action ...................................... 44 Appendix 2 - List of public bodies, intergovernmental organisations and civil society actors with which GRETA held consultations ....................................................................... 49 Government's comments ...................................................................................................... 51 GRETA(2020)04 3 _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Preamble The Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) was established pursuant to Article 36 of the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (“the Convention”), which entered into force on 1 February 2008. GRETA is responsible for monitoring the implementation of the Convention by the parties and for drawing up reports evaluating the measures taken by each party. In accordance with Article 38, paragraph 1, of the Convention, GRETA evaluates the implementation of the Convention following a procedure divided into rounds. At the beginning of each round, GRETA selects the specific provisions of the Convention on which the evaluation procedure is based. The first round of monitoring of the Convention provided an overview of its implementation by State Parties. The second evaluation round of the Convention examined the impact of legislative, policy and practical measures on the prevention of trafficking in human beings, the protection of the rights of victims of trafficking, and the prosecution of traffickers, paying particular attention to measures taken to address new trends in human trafficking and the vulnerability of children to trafficking. GRETA has decided that the third evaluation round of the Convention will focus on trafficking victims’ access to justice and effective remedies, which is essential for victims’ rehabilitation and reinstatement of rights, and reflects a victim-centred and human-rights based approach to the fight against human trafficking. A number of provisions of the Convention establishing substantive and procedural obligations are relevant to this topic, in particular articles 12, 15, 23, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30 and 32. Access to justice and effective remedies is contingent on the fulfilment of a number of preconditions, including prompt and accurate identification of victims of trafficking, the provision of a recovery and reflection period, the availability of material, psychological, medical and legal assistance, access to translation and interpretation, when appropriate, regularisation of the victim’s stay, the right to seek and enjoy asylum, and full respect for the principle of non-refoulement. These preconditions, corresponding to various provisions of the Convention, have been examined at length during the first and second evaluation rounds of monitoring of the Convention. Consequently, GRETA has decided to ask each State Party for an update on the implementation of GRETA’s previous recommendations on selected topics through a separate country-specific part of the questionnaire. GRETA’s findings and analysis of these topics are presented in a separate chapter. 4 GRETA(2020)04 _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Executive summary Since the second round of evaluation of the implementation of the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings, Cyprus has continued to develop the legislative framework relevant to action against trafficking in human beings (THB). Through Law 117(I)/2019, enacted on 26 July 2019, amendments were made to Law 60(I)2014 on Prevention and Combating of Trafficking and Exploitation of Persons and the Protection of Victims. In particular, the penalties for THB were significantly increased, and a new provision concerning the criminalisation of the use of sexual services of victims of trafficking was added. Cyprus established a National Referral Mechanism (NRM) in 2016, defining the co-operation framework between the relevant services and NGOs for identifying and referring victims of trafficking to services. Further, the Multidisciplinary Co-ordinating Group adopted a new National Action Plan against THB for 2019-2021 at its meeting in September 2019. Cyprus continues to be primarily a country of destination for trafficked persons. The number of presumed victims of trafficking referred to the Police Office for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings in the period 2015-2019 was 801, of whom 190 were formally identified as victims of THB; 80% of the identified victims were women. The focus of the third evaluation round of the Convention being on trafficking victims’ access to justice and effective remedies, the report analyses in detail the implementation of provisions of the Convention establishing substantive and procedural obligations relevant to this topic. According to the law and the NRM, initial information on victims’ rights should be provided by the Social Welfare Services, which act as the first point of contact with victims of THB. However, the procedure is reportedly not always followed. GRETA considers that the Cypriot authorities should strengthen the provision of information to presumed and formally identified victims of trafficking regarding their rights, the services available and how to access them, as well as the implications of being identified as a victim of trafficking. No legal aid has been provided to victims of trafficking