EVALUATION REPORT GEORGIA Third evaluation round G R E T A Group of Experts Access to justice on Action against and effective remedies Trafficking for victims of trafficking in Human Beings in human beings GRETA(2021)02 Publication: 16 March 2021 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(2021)02 Contents Preamble ............................................................................................................................. 3 Executive summary ............................................................................................................. 4 I. Introduction ............................................................................................................... 6 II. Overview of the current situation and trends in the area of trafficking in human beings in Georgia ....................................................................................................... 8 III. Developments in the legal, institutional and policy framework for action against human trafficking ...................................................................................................... 8 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) ............................................................................................ 15 5. Access to work, vocational training and education (Article 12) .................................................... 15 6. Compensation (Article 15) ........................................................................................................... 16 7. Investigations, prosecutions, sanctions and measures (Articles 22, 23 and 27) ........................... 19 8. Non-punishment provision (Article 26) ........................................................................................ 24 9. Protection of victims and witnesses (Articles 28 and 30) ............................................................. 25 10. Specialised authorities and co-ordinating bodies (Article 29) ....................................................... 26 11. International co-operation (Article 32) ......................................................................................... 27 12. Cross-cutting issues ..................................................................................................................... 29 a. gender-sensitive criminal, civil, labour and administrative proceedings ................................... 29 b. child-sensitive procedures for obtaining access to justice and remedies .................................. 29 c. role of businesses .................................................................................................................... 30 d. measures to prevent and detect corruption ............................................................................. 31 V. Follow-up topics specific to Georgia ............................................................................. 32 1. Measures to prevent, identify and combat THB for the purpose of labour exploitation ................ 32 2. Identification and assistance of victims of THB ............................................................................ 34 3. Identification of child victims of trafficking .................................................................................. 36 4. Recovery and reflection period .................................................................................................... 38 5. Abuse of position of vulnerability in conformity with the Convention ........................................... 38 Appendix 1 - List of GRETA’s conclusions and proposals for action .................................. 40 Appendix 2 - List of public bodies, intergovernmental organisations and civil society actors with which GRETA held consultations ........................................................... 45 Government's comments .................................................................................................. 46 GRETA(2021)02 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(2021)02 Executive summary Since the second evaluation round of the implementation of the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings, Georgia has continued to develop the legislative and policy framework relevant to action against trafficking in human beings. In 2018, amendments were made to the Criminal Code and Criminal Procedure Code to ensure proper qualification of human trafficking offences and facilitate the collection of evidence. National anti-trafficking action plans were adopted for the periods 2017-2018 and 2019-2020. Georgia is primarily a country of origin and, to a lesser extent, a country of destination and transit of victims of trafficking in human beings. The total number of victims identified in the period 2015-2019 was 66. Until 2018, the majority of the identified victims were women trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation, but in 2019 all identified victims were Georgian children, trafficked for the purpose of production of child sexual abuse images or exploitation of begging. 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. The authorities have developed an information brochure – available in three languages – which explains the services available to victims of human trafficking. Nevertheless, GRETA considers that the Georgian authorities should provide officials with continuous training and instructions on how to properly explain to victims of trafficking their rights and systematically refer them to the State Fund for the Protection and Assistance to Victims of Trafficking or specialised NGOs for support and assistance. In criminal proceedings, the right to free legal aid is ensured to adult and child victims of human trafficking and provided by lawyers of the State Fund and the State Legal Aid Service. These lawyers undergo annual training on human trafficking issues. Free legal aid is also available in civil and administrative proceedings under certain conditions.