Slavery in The 21st Century

Convention. In 2013 Belarus became the first non-Council of Europe member state to
accede to the Convention.
The Convention established a Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human
Beings (GRETA) which monitors the implementation of the Convention through country
reports. As of 1 March 2013, GRETA has published 17 country reports.
Complementary protection against sex trafficking of children is ensured through the
Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation
and Sexual Abuse (signed in Lanzarote, 25 October 2007). The Convention entered into
force on 1 July 2010. As of September 2018, the Convention has been ratified by 44
states, with another 3 states having signed but not yet ratified.
In addition, the European Court of Human Rights of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg
has passed judgments concerning trafficking in human beings which violated obligations
under the European Convention on Human Rights: Siliadin v. France, judgment of 26
July 2005, and Rantsev v. Cyprus and Russia, judgment of 7 January 2010.
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
In 2003, the OSCE established an anti-trafficking mechanism aimed at raising public
awareness of the problem and building the political will within participating states to
tackle it effectively.
The OSCE actions against human trafficking are coordinated by the Office of the
Special Representative for Combating the Traffic of Human Beings. In January 2010,
Maria Grazia Giammarinaro became the OSCE Special Representative and Coordinator
for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings. Dr. Giammarinaro (Italy) has been
a judge at the Criminal Court of Rome since 1991. She served from 2006 until 2009 in
the European Commission's Directorate-General for Justice, Freedom and Security in
Brussels, where she was responsible for work to combat human trafficking and sexual
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