The National Referral Mechanism for the Protection of Human Trafficking Victims (NRM) is a coordinating mechanism, which monitors all the stages of a victim’s inclusion in the country’s protection system, beginning with its initial detection and identification, followed by the provision of protection and support services during the legal process, up to its voluntary assisted return to its country of origin or integration in the country of arrival.

The importance of such a mechanism in Greece is shown by Law 4198/2013 (based on the Directive 2011/36/ΕU), for the prevention and combat against human trafficking and the protection of its victims, which lead to the establishment of the «National Mechanism for the Detection and Referral of Human Trafficking Victims» under the supervision of the Office of the National Rapporteur on Combatting Human Trafficking (ONR). The Joint Ministerial Decision no. 30840 (GG 3003/20-9-2016) established the NRM and the National Centre for Social Solidarity was held responsible for its management and the ONR for its supervision and coordination.

In the endof 2018, the ONR announced to the participating actors the launching of the NRM’s operation aiming at the coordination of the Actors in the detection and protection of the victims, as well as the better depiction of the phenomenon, through collecting referring and protection monitoring forms by EKKA and the statistical analysis of the data.

To fulfil its purpose, NCSS was supported from the beginning of NRM’s operation with three experts deployed by the Norwegian Council for Refugees (NRC/NORCAP), in the framework of the Greece Capacity Building Project, funded by EEA Grants.

NRM’s operation was supported with staff, information activities and an online platform, through the Project “Strengthening of the operation of the National Referral Mechanism for the Protection of Victims of Human Trafficking”, funded by the Internal Security Fund – Police Cooperation 2014-2020.

 

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What is Trafficking in Human Beings

Definition of Human Trafficking (Article 2 paragraph1 of the Directive 2011/36/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 April 2011 on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and protecting its victims, and replacing Council Framework Decision 2002/629/JHA) «The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or reception of persons, including the exchange or transfer of control over those persons, by means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.»

Exploitation shall include, as a minimum, according to the Directive 2011/36/EU (article 2, paragraph 3) the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, including begging, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude, or the exploitation of criminal activities, or the removal of organs.

- It is irrelevant if the exploitation goal has been fulfilled: In order to establish human trafficking, one action, with atl east one means issufficient(with the exception of an underage victim, where there is no need to detect the means) and with the aim of exploitation, even if the latter did not take place.

- The trafficking victim has the right of protection services before its cooperation with the Police, and even if she/he decides to not co-operate: The (possible) victims have the rights stated by the P.D. 233/2003 and Law 4251/2014 even before their cooperation with the police and even if they decide to not co-operate.

- The victim’s transfer/transportation, either cross-border or with in the country, is not a trafficking element: The transfer/transportation of the victim, either cross-border or not) is one of the actions included in the human trafficking definition. The trafficking can be established even without the victim’s transportation, if one of the other definition’s actions have taken place (recruitment/harbouring/reception).

- A person that has been a victim of human trafficking has the same rights as a human trafficking victim, who see exploitation took place in Greece: According to article 8, paragraph 10 of the Greek penal code, the Greek penal legislation applies to any case of human trafficking regardless of the perpetrator’s and victim’s nationality, even if the trafficking took place abroad (international justice principle). Therefore, the same legal protection framework applies to all victim categories.