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GREECE: Tier 2
Greece is a transit, destination, and, to a very limited extent, source country for women and children subjected to
sex trafficking and men, women, and children subjected to forced labor. Some women from Eastern Europe (including
Bulgaria, Romania, and Albania), Greece, Russia, Nigeria, and China are subjected to sex trafficking in Greece.
Victims of forced labor in Greece are primarily children and men from Eastern and Southern Europe, South Asia, and
Africa. Migrant workers from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan are susceptible to debt bondage, reportedly in
agriculture. Most labor trafficking victims reportedly enter Greece through Turkey along irregular migration routes
from the Middle East and South Asia. Romani children from Albania, Bulgaria, and Romania are forced by family
members to sell goods on the street, beg, or commit petty theft in Greece. The increase in unaccompanied child
migrants in Greece has increased the number of children susceptible to exploitation. Some public officials have
been investigated for suspected involvement in human trafficking.
The Government of Greece does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking;
however, it is making significant efforts to do so.The government convicted fewer traffickers and prosecuted fewer
suspects compared to the previous reporting period. Police identified fewer trafficking victims and the government
failed to make all victim services authorized by law readily accessible to victims. There was no government-run
shelter for adult male victims and no emergency shelter easily accessible for victims of trafficking. The
government provided limited in-kind support to NGOs providing victim services and shelter.
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR GREECE:
Vigorously prosecute and convict traffickers, including officials complicit in trafficking; provide training to law
enforcement, prosecutors, and judges on a victim-centered approach to prosecutions; train law enforcement officers
to improve screening for trafficking victims among asylum seekers, women in prostitution, irregular migrants, and
other vulnerable populations; ensure all services available by law for victims are provided, particularly medical
care; establish specialized shelters for trafficking victims and provide shelter for adult male victims; employ
witness protection provisions already incorporated into law for victims to further encourage their participation in
investigations and prosecutions; draft a national action plan for combating trafficking; and integrate messages
targeted towards vulnerable minority populations into existing awareness campaigns.
PROSECUTION
The government sustained law enforcement efforts, yet the number
of dedicated police officers focusing on human trafficking continued to decline due to severe budgetary
constraints stemming from Greece’s financial crisis. Greek Law 3064/2002 and Presidential Decree 233/2003 prohibit
both sex trafficking and forced labor and prescribe punishments of up to 10 years’ imprisonment. These penalties
are sufficiently stringent and commensurate with those prescribed for other serious crimes, such as rape. Police
investigated 36 human trafficking cases, compared with 37 cases in 2013; six of the investigations were for forced
begging or labor. In 2014, the government prosecuted 125 defendants on suspicion of committing trafficking-related
crimes, a decrease from 142 in 2013 and 177 in 2012. Of these, 17 defendants were prosecuted for labor
exploitation, including forced begging, and 108 defendants for sexual exploitation. Due to limitations in data
collection capabilities, conviction information is not available from all courts, and information related to
specific charges in prosecutions was available only once convictions were reached; therefore, government data could
not disaggregate human trafficking trials from prosecutions of non-trafficking crimes involving sexual and labor
exploitation. Only partial data on convictions from approximately half of the courts in Greece was available, as
was the case in prior years.This partial data shows that the government convicted 31 traffickers, compared with 46
convictions in 2013. Sentences ranged from five to 32.5 years’ imprisonment and fines; two sentences were
suspended. In one instance, an NGO reported that a court convicted sex traffickers under pimping laws that carried
lesser penalties.
Civil society criticized the outcome of a trial involving labor trafficking charges against three Greek foremen
accused of shooting into a crowd of some 200 Bangladeshi migrant workers who had been protesting over six months of
unpaid wages at a strawberry farm. In July 2014, a Greek court acquitted the farm owner and his lead foreman and
suspended prison sentences against two other alleged offenders pending appeal. A statement issued by an NGO
highlighted flaws in the preliminary investigation of the incident, lack of independent interpreters used in victim
examinations, and lack of police protection for the victims.There have been no confirmed instances of labor
inspections finding similar cases of trafficking in rural areas where seasonal agricultural work occurs, despite
reports of their existence from NGOs and journalists.
The anti-trafficking police unit held seminars on trafficking for police cadets and webinars for police
directorates.The government did not provide comprehensive trainings for judges or prosecutors on trafficking cases
or using a victim-centered approach. Police reported suspending several corrupt police officers involved in
bribery, blackmail, and the exploitation of women, although the women in these cases have not been confirmed to be
trafficking victims. In May 2014, police arrested members of a criminal ring involved in the sexual exploitation of
foreign women; the alleged ringleader was a policeman who was suspended pending further investigation.There is no
confirmation that this case was related to trafficking victims, and the case remained pending at the end of the
reporting period. In 2013, two police officers were arrested for involvement in a sex trafficking ring and charged
with providing internal police information to traffickers; this case remained under investigation with no trial
scheduled by the end of the reporting period.
PROTECTION
The government’s protection efforts decreased in some areas, but increased in others. Police identified a total of
64 potential
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