The focus of the third evaluation round of the Convention was on trafficking victims’ access to justice and effective remedies. On 20 October 2022, the Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) published a report for Belgium, analyzing in detail the implementation of provisions of the Convention establishing substantive and procedural obligations relevant to this topic.

Among other conclusions, the GRETA considered that the Belgian authorities should:

• strengthen the provision of information to presumed victims of trafficking concerning their rights as soon as they are detected and regardless of whether they decide to approach a specialised reception centre.
   
• take further measures to ensure access to justice for victims of trafficking and, in particular, to revise and simplify the eligibility criteria for access to legal aid.
   
• take additional measures to guarantee effective access to compensation for victims of trafficking.
   
• allocate sufficient human and budgetary resources to the police forces to carry out proactive and effective investigations.
   
• ensure the practical implementation of the non-punishment provision, in particular with regard to minor victims of trafficking for the offences they were forced to commit.
   
• ensure that the available protective measures are effectively applied to victims of trafficking and witnesses in order to protect them, including by avoiding the confrontation of victims of trafficking in the physical presence of the accused and by ensuring the use of videotaped hearings of victims of all types of human trafficking.
   
• allocate sufficient human and financial resources to labour inspectors in order to allow them to perform their role effectively and proactively throughout the country. Also, the training and specialisation of labour auditors should be improved.
   
• ensure that the formal identification of victims of trafficking is not dependent, in practice, on their cooperation with the justice system or on the outcome of criminal proceedings, and that assistance measures are not conditional on the victim's agreement to cooperate with criminal investigations and proceedings.
   
• strengthen the training provided to front-line professionals and improve the assistance to unaccompanied minors.
   
• take further steps to ensure that victims of trafficking can fully benefit from the right to obtain a residence permit, including on the basis of their personal situation.

For detailed information, please read the full report above.