Commentary - CoE Convention on Action against Trafficking

The Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (CoE Convention against THB) is the first legal instrument concerning trafficking in human beings (THB) that frames THB as a matter of human rights. Although this Convention has been in force since 2008 and has been ratified by almost all Member States of the Council of Europe, a comprehensive commentary on the Convention did not yet exist. This Commentary provides the first fully up-to-date analysis and interpretation of the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings. It offers a concise yet thorough article-by-article guide to the Conventions anti-trafficking standards and corresponding human rights obligations. This Commentary includes an analysis of each articles drafting history, alongside a contextualisation of its provisions with other anti-trafficking standards and a discussion of the core issues of interpretation. The Human Rights-Based Approach (HRBA) was chosen as underlying approach for the analysis of the Convention in order to ensure that the State Parties obligations concerning gender equality, non-discrimination and the best interest of the child are mainstreamed in the analysis. The Commentary also presents the first full exploration of the findings of the Conventions monitoring body, the Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA), providing a better understanding of the practical implications and challenges in relation to the Conventions standards. The Commentarys concise analysis should support the work of practitioners in the field of anti-trafficking, including lawyers, law enforcement agencies and providers of victim support services. It will also prove useful to researchers and students of human rights law, as well as to policymakers looking for guidance concerning obligations stemming from the Convention. The Commentary is edited by Julia Planitzer and Helmut Sax who are senior researchers at the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Human Rights (BIM) in Vienna. The team of contributing authors is composed of further researchers of the BIM and professors from various universities in Europe, including for instance the UN Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children Siobhn Mullally, Vladislava Stoyanova (University of Lund), Conny Rijken (Tilburg University) and Ryszard Piotrowicz (Aberystwyth University). Additionally, the researchers received regular feedback from an advisory group consisting of the experts Mike Dottridge, Prof. Manfred Nowak and Georgina Vaz Cabral.

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