The draft of the report on the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) on the law on trafficking proposes to endorse the norm promoted by the Government to reinforce the fight against trafficking in human beings and shield the assistance and protection of victims. The text, prepared by the members Nuria Diaz (proposed by the PP to form part of the CGPJ) and Clara Martínez de Careaga (for the PSOE), considers that the bill led by the Ministry of Justice and approved in November by the Council of Ministers deserves a “favorable assessment” and that it is in line with international standards on trafficking. The members also applaud the fact that the future standard includes “a large part” of the recommendations contained in the guide to criteria for judicial action against trafficking in human beings prepared by the governing body of judges.
The draft report has been sent to the members and will be discussed in plenary session of the body. The CGPJ report supports the draft law in general terms, especially some aspect such as the procedure that is foreseen to carry out the identification of the victims, through interviews with specialized personnel, ensuring the presence of interpreters or cultural mediators if necessary and in a room that guarantees confidentiality. “The special interest of the pre-legislator in the conditions in which the interview is to be carried out and the evaluation of it deserves an extremely favorable assessment,” the report states.
The two members in charge of drafting it also praise the specific provision contained in the law so that, in minor victims, “the possible involvement of the minor’s family in trafficking or exploitation” is assessed. The CGPJ considers, however, that this provision should be extended to all victims, since it is common for the family or relatives “to be involved in the recruitment and even in the exploitation”, especially in organized groups from countries of the this as Romania or Bulgaria, as the vowels warn.
Among the criticisms of the text, the most forceful refers to the modification of the law for the protection of witnesses and experts in criminal cases included in the tata law. The Council has already warned on several occasions of the “deficiencies” of the current law for the protection of witnesses, and has asked that it be reformed to fix all aspects of the status of protected witness. But the trafficking law makes a “partial” modification that, according to the CGPJ, gives rise to certain “inconsistencies.”
witness protection
Thus, the Council values positively that the Prosecutor’s Office can also adopt witness protection measures when the investigation “falls” on it, but criticizes that the replacement of “investigating judge” by “competent court” established by law may entail, ” in a strict application of the precept, to the conclusion that the examining magistrate cannot apply said measures, which must be object of the most absolute rejection, since the protection must be dispensed, if necessary, from early phases”.
After questioning other changes in the witness protection law and also applauding some, the report concludes that the reform of this rule is “insufficient and generates contradictions and confusion, which, far from solving the current problems of clarity and legal certainty in this matter, they increase them”. The CGPJ suggests that the Government draft the projected modifications “adequately, fully and coherently”, while reiterating the “need” to undertake the regulatory development of this standard,
The text also recalls that the entry into force of the trafficking law should be accompanied by “the necessary measures to have sufficient and adequate material and personal resources for the implementation of the new system.” “Without these means, the aforementioned system would be very difficult to implement in real life,” warn the members.
