According to a report published by the Council of Europe’s Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking (GRETA), Cyprus has been passing undetected as a key destination for smugglers trafficking humans into sexual slavery, forced marriages, and exploitative labor. Sadly, the conviction rate for these crimes is among the lowest in the Mediterranean.

The Council begun by addressing the fact that Cyprus has failed to provide free legal aid and expertise to victims of trafficking during criminal proceedings. However, it also praised the countrys government for heightening penalties associated with human trafficking, criminalizing the use of victims for sex, and the creation of a facility that can limit the number of interviews child victims need to undergo.

The report made it clear that between 2015 and 2019, human trafficking victims were not provided any form of legal aid. They can seek financial compensation through criminal and/or civil proceedings, however no examples were found of cases where this compensation was actually provided, leading GRETA to urge the government to set up a victim support fund and ensure that convicted perpetrators compensate victims.

In the report, Cypriot authorities are also advised to intensify investigations into human trafficking and fix the frighteningly-low conviction rate, specifically regarding exploitative labor cases. Between 2015 and 2018, police submitted around 60 cases for prosecution yet only nine of these resulted in convictions.

The report and other non-profits around the world have suggested a variety of solutions for the low conviction rate, however the most common amongst these was to simply create better training for prosecutors and judges in order to avoid human trafficking cases being downgraded to crimes with lighter penalties, making victims ineligible to compensation.

Further analysis concluded that asylum seekers and refugees that fall victim to human trafficking are more exposed to certain areas than other victim groups, including higher levels of sexual exploitation. This is because they receive an alarmingly low allowance and are in desperate need for a place to live, making them susceptible to fake offers.

Taking that into consideration, it is important to note that there has been a recent influx of Lebanese refugees into Cyprus. With deepening economic problems and multiple security concerns following August’s port explosion, many in Lebanon are looking to Cyprus for better opportunities.

According to the UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR, only 17 boats departed from Lebanon to Cyprus in all of 2019. Now, between July 1st and September 14th, there have been at least 21 boats following the same route to Cyprus, the majority of which have left since August 29th. Overall, over 52,000 asylum seekers and refugees have crossed the Mediterranean this year.

GRETA released data that showed that over a four-year review period, almost 200 out of 801 trafficking victims (the majority being women) were asylum seekers, migrants, or refugees.

The report concluded that the main form of exploitation for women in Cyprus is sexual slavery, generally following previous trafficking into forced marriages, while men tend to fall victims to forced labor. Children on the other hand can sadly fall into numerous different categories of trafficking.

Facts have come to show that Cyprus remains a destination for people within networks of human trafficking, despite actions coming from the Cypriot government, including a national referral mechanism established in 2016 and an even newer plan for 2021 adopted back in 2019.

The Cypriot government has come a long way in combatting the threat, however there are still some technicalities to work out, according to GRETA. The Council has pressed authorities in the country to facilitate the access to justice for victims, meaning that legal aid should be provided at “an early stage of the criminal proceedings.”

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