RENATE Core Group member, Marie Hélène Halligon, RGS, shares with us an update on the news from the recent CoE meetings in June, at which Marie Hélène represented RENATE, through the invitation of our Andante colleagues.
Among the many varied debates organised during the week, some of the highlights were:

• A Side event organised in co-operation with PACE Committee on Equality and non-dicrimination: “Women’s mobilization in Europe 2016: What impact on policies?”;
• A debate/training session “How to fight against discrimination and hate speech in the post-truth era”
• A debate on the “populist wave in Europe” on the basis of the Secretary General’s latest report
• The situation of NGOs in member States with reports from the visits led by the President of the Conference to Hungaryand Ireland and the meetings held with NGOs from Cyprus and Turkey
• The Conference adopted a Recommendation “Human Rights and Business”encouraging members States to implement the actions recommended in Committee of Ministers Recommendation (2016)3

For full information, please see
http://www.coe.int/en/web/ingo/newsroom/-/asset_publisher/BR9aikJBXnwX/content/news-from-the-summer-session-of-the-conference-of-ingos-26-30-june-2017?inheritRedirect=false&redirect=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.coe.int%2Ffr%2Fweb%
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Prepared by Anne Kelleher, RENATE Communications Person.

 

 
The Full Report and individual Continent Reports are available at http://www.talithakum.info/news including RENATE President Imelda Poole’s presentation on RENATE.
Prepared by Anne Kelleher, RENATE Communications person.
 

In a strategic move to turn the tables on human traffickers, the House of Representatives passed the Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Re-authorisation Act of 2017 (H.R. 2200), named after the abolitionist Frederick Douglass.
Many of the tools which the United States uses today in combatting human trafficking, stem from the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, 2000, a landmark Act. That Act led to the development and publication of the annual Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP) and country Tier rankings, thereby making the issue of human trafficking unavoidable for world governments as they were faced with public exposure of their respective profiles in combating and prevention of human trafficking.
Currently, more than 120 countries worldwide have enacted anti-trafficking legislation and while the recent TIP 2017 Report records that 27 countries were upgraded to a higher tier, the TIP 2017 Report also records 21countries fell to a lower tier, indicating considerable work is required internationally.  
In a statement prior to the vote to approve the 2017 Act, the House of Representative Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Mr. Ed. Royce stated ‘’Exposing the harsh reality of human trafficking to international daylight is a central tenet of the legislation…it turns the tables on international traffickers by authorising the State Department to offer and publicise bounties for their arrest and conviction.’’
Adapted by Anne Kelleher, RENATE Communications Person.
 

 

 
The Scottish Government’s Cabinet Secretary for Justice, Michael Matheson, recently announced that the Reflection Period of support for victims of trafficking in Scotland will increase from 45 to 90 days, with the intention of protecting the most vulnerable members of society. Michael Matheson said the extended period is triple the Council of Europe minimum time and twice as long as the rest of the UK.
The change to the Reflection Period in Scotland, was made after consultation with victims’ groups and other justice agencies, and is a key part of a new strategy launched in May 2017, aimed at eliminating human trafficking in Scotland.
Addressing a Holyrood debate on trafficking, Matheson said: “Trading adults and children as commodities is an abhorrent crime which degrades victims and causes lasting physical and psychological damage. There were 150 victims of trafficking supported in Scotland last year, each person suffering abuse and exploitation over weeks, months or even years. This cannot continue in our communities. We are working hard to make Scotland an increasingly hostile place for those who traffic other human beings, while also improving the support we provide to victims. We have been listening to groups working directly with victims and I am pleased that we will now double the length of support available for adult victims to 90 days.”
The previous 45-day support period in Scotland, has been repeatedly highlighted by the Anti Trafficking Monitoring Group (the ATMG a coalition of anti-slavery organisations established to monitor the UK’s implementation of European anti-trafficking legislation) and other UK NGOs, as inadequate for most survivors where the complex and often lengthy process of recovering from the trauma of being trafficked can take months and even years. 
The Reflection Period was mentioned for the first time in an EU Council Directive in 2004, on residence permits for victims of trafficking (EU Council Directive 2004/81/EC of 29 April 2004).
A comparative analysis of reflection periods and related temporary residence permits for victims of trafficking in the Nordic countries, Belgium and Italy, entitled ‘’Balancing Protection and Prosecution in anti-trafficking Policies,’’ is available at https://ec.europa.eu/anti-trafficking/sites/antitrafficking/files/balancing_protection_and_prosecution_in_anti-trafficking_policies_1.pdf
Prepared by Anne Kelleher, RENATE Communications Person.