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The Minister for Justice and Equality, Mr Charlie Flanagan T.D., today welcomed the election of Mr. Kevin Hyland to the Council of Europe’s Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA). Mr. Hyland will succeed Professor Siobhan Mullally as the Irish expert on GRETA from January 2019.

Congratulating Mr. Hyland on his election the Minister said "The election of Kevin Hyland to GRETA is a significant achievement and a tribute to his broad international expertise and experience in the area of human trafficking at national and international level. I am confident that he will make a substantial contribution to the important work of GRETA. I wish to extend my congratulations to Mr. Hyland and wish him every success in this vital role.”
In 2018, Mr. Hyland took up the role of Chief Executive of Childfund Ireland, an international development agency based in Dublin. Mr. Hyland was also involved in the establishment of the Santa Marta Group, a body comprising international law enforcement agencies, civil society, non-governmental organisations and the Catholic Church, of which Ireland is a leading member. As part of the Santa Marta Group, Mr Hyland is currently the Chair of an all-island research project at Mary Immaculate College Limerick, which is supported by the Department of Justice and Equality and An Garda Síochána.
Mr. Hyland was appointed as the UK's first Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner in November 2014. He received an OBE for "services to Combating Human Trafficking" in 2015. Prior to his role as the Anti-Slavery Commissioner, Mr. Hyland had a 30 year career as a police officer and was formerly head of the London Metropolitan Police Service’s Human Trafficking Unit.


Note to Editors:

Ireland ratified the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings in July 2010 and it entered into force on the 1 November 2010.

GRETA is the monitoring mechanism set up under the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings to oversee and review the implementation of the Convention by State Parties. GRETA is composed of 15 independent and impartial experts from a variety of backgrounds. They have been elected by the Committee of the Parties for a term of office of either two or four years, renewable once, and selected from among national candidates put forward by State Parties to the Convention.

Further details of the functions of GRETA, and the qualifications required for membership of it, are available on the Council of Europe website: http://www.coe.int/en/web/anti-human-trafficking/home.