On December 12 and 13, 2019, meetings of the National Anti-Trafficking Coordination Mechanism and the NGO Round Table took place to discuss domestic anti-trafficking activities. Mátyás Hegyaljai, Deputy State Secretary for European Union and International Affairs, National Coordinator of Hungary's Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings, reported on actions, experiences, professional developments over the past nearly six months, and also summarized trends, efforts taken and plans for their respective fields.
Deputy Secretary of State Mátyás Hegyaljai reported, among other things, on the publication of the US State Department’s Report on Trafficking in Human Beings (TIP Report) and a visit of the the State Department’s delegation to Budapest.
The second round country evaluations report by the Council of Europe Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) was adopted in 2019. The evaluation focuses on child victims and labor exploitation in addition to the general implementation of the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings. GRETA made a number of recommendations to the Hungarian government for more effective action against trafficking in human beings, which were also presented to the meeting by the Ministry of the Interior.
The Ministry of Interior and other relevant organizations have reported on the implementation of Government Decision 1125/2019 on the measures necessary to increase the efficiency of combatting human trafficking. The decision identifies specific tasks, responsible bodies and deadlines for a number of anti-trafficking activities and provides for the allocation of the necessary resources.
At the December meetings, Mátyás Hegyaljai thanked the participants for their work throughout the year and indicated that the Ministry of Interior is expecting to continue this cooperation in the upcoming year.