The Council of Europe's Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) has called on Lithuania to take further action against human trafficking, notably by improving the access of victims of trafficking to legal assistance and compensation, and by disassociating the identification and assistance of victims from the prospects of a successful investigation and prosecution.
In a new report GRETA's experts note a number of positive developments since the previous evaluation of Lithuania in 2019, including amendments to the legislative framework relevant to combating human trafficking and the independent evaluation of the implementation of the national action plan against human trafficking for 2017-2019.
However, GRETA is concerned that the limited human and budgetary resources dedicated to the co-ordination of anti-trafficking action can have a negative impact on the implementation of national action plans. It also urges the authorities to ensure that legal assistance is provided as soon as there are reasonable grounds for believing that a person is a victim of trafficking, before the victim has to decide whether or not to co-operate with the authorities or make an official statement.
GRETA welcomes the fact that a number of victims of trafficking have been awarded compensation from the perpetrators by criminal courts. However, the report stresses that additional steps to guarantee effective access to compensation for victims should be taken, in particular by making full use of the legislation on the freezing and forfeiture of assets, and by making State compensation accessible to all victims of trafficking, irrespective of their nationality or residence status.
The report, which covers the period up until 17 November 2023, has been published together with the response of the Lithuanian authorities.
Lithuania should do more to ensure access to justice for trafficking victims, say Council of Europe experts
