OSCE, Council of Europe join forces to protect human trafficking victims’ rights

STRASBOURG, France, 9 October 2014 – The OSCE and the Council of Europe today launched a joint two-day workshop th­­­at brings together judges and prosecutors to discuss key challenges in supporting the legal rights of human trafficking victims.

The workshop focuses on the implementation of the non-punishment principle, which holds that human trafficking victims should not be punished for unlawful activities they were forced to commit by their exploiters.

“Upholding the non-punishment principle is a key step in increasing the number of successful prosecutions in the OSCE region as it encourages trafficking victims to testify in court by ensuring that they will not also be imprisoned or deported,” Ambassador Madina Jarbussynova, OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, said.

Promoting the non-punishment principle is one of the important areas identified for enhanced co-operation between the Council of Europe and the OSCE following the joint conference “Not for Sale – Joining Forces against Trafficking in Human Beings” on 17-18 February 2014, organized under the Swiss OSCE Chairmanship and the Austrian Chairmanship of the Council of Europe.

Petya Nestorova, Executive Secretary of the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings, said: “Despite the existence of binding legal provisions, victims of trafficking are still imprisoned or deported. This contravenes the State’s obligation to protect and assist victims and contributes to the impunity of traffickers.”

Speakers at the workshop included a judge from the European Court of Human Rights and judges, prosecutors, lawyers and legal experts from Belgium, the Netherlands, Serbia, UK and other countries in the OSCE region.