22 - Astra

E-NEWSLETTER 22
January/December 2009
ASTRA•Belgrade•Republic of Serbia•tel/fax: + 381 11 3347 817•e-mail: astranet@sezampro.rs•www.astra.org.rs
In this issue
•Introduction
•An overview of anti-
trafficking activities
in Serbia in JanuaryDecember 2009
•Annual review of the
work of the National
Team for Combating
Human Trafficking
•Impresum
T
he last issue of ASTRA E-Newsletter in 2009
contains a list of activities carried out in Serbia with a view to suppressing, preventing
and punishing human trafficking in the period October-December 2009, as well as an overview of everything done to combat trafficking in human beings
by governmental and nongovernmental actors in the
course of 2009, including this year’s activities of the
National Team for Combating Human Trafficking.
Many important steps forward were made in 2009
regarding the issues which deficiencies ASTRA had
been emphasizing for years: the National Anti Trafficking Action Plan was adopted, the Council of
Europe’s Convention on Action against Trafficking
in Human Beings ratified as the international instrument which puts the greatest focus on victim protection, minimum penalty for child trafficking increased,
while criminal responsibility of the consumers of
services was introduced; the new Law on the Confiscation of Criminal Proceeds may be applied on
trafficking offences, while the Ministries of the Interior, Finance, Labor and Social Policy, Education and
Justice signed an agreement on cooperation in combating human trafficking. All these activities were for
the most part driven by political will which was built
around the efforts towards the liberalization of the
visa regime with the European Union, and this favorable climate should be made the best possible use of
in the months to come.
During 2009, the Agency for Coordination of Protection of Trafficking Victims identified a total of 127
persons, which is 2.5 times more than one year earlier. Of this figure, 107 were recognized as trafficking
victims and 20 as potential victims1. The majority of
victims were females (more than 80%) and the citizens of the Republic of Serbia (49). Only 13 foreign
nationals were identified: Romania (3), Bosnia and
Herzegovina (2), Dominican Republic (2), Macedonia, Moldova, Albania, Czech Republic, Slovenia and
Montenegro. Children accounted for 46% of identified victims. The purpose of human trafficking was
predominantly sexual exploitation (66), which is still
the prevailing purpose of human trafficking in Serbia,
followed by labor exploitation (18), begging (14),
forced marriage (6), coercion into petty crime (2)
and illegal adoption (1). The majority of cases were
reported by the police and the rest by social welfare
centers, local and foreign NGOs and UNHCR.
Last year, ASTRA SOS Hotline received a total of
1577 calls from 571 clients, of whom 249 were firsttime callers. A total of 38 persons were identified and/
or assisted as trafficking victims, more than double
the number assisted in 2008. Slightly over one third
(13) were children. The majority of newly identified
victims were women (around 75%) and Serbian nationals (27, i.e. around 70%). A total of 70 persons
– 47 adults and 23 children - used programs and services provided through ASTRA Daily Center.
In 2009, NGO Atina assisted 53 clients through its
programs Open Club, Field Support Team and Temporary Home. The assistance provided to all clients
included, depending on their needs, the solving of
their civil status, the realization of their social welfare rights, enrollment of their children to nurseries,
kindergartens or schools, the provision of legal, psychological and medical assistance, experience-based
support, family counseling and mediation. Of the total number of beneficiaries, 45 were female, 4 were
foreign nationals and 19 were children.
Eighteen trafficking victims, five of whom were children, were accommodated in the Shelter for Trafficking Victims managed by NGO Counseling against
Family Violence during 2009. Three quarters of victims assisted by this organization were the citizens of
Serbia.
In the course of 2009, the police filed 51 criminal reports for the violations of Article 388 of the Criminal Code of Serbia (trafficking in human beings). 85
persons appeared as injured parties, of whom 79 the
citizens of the Republic of Serbia and six foreigners.
Although the number of criminal reports increased by
some 50%, the number of injured parties almost doubled year-to-year. The majority of victims (66) were
female, while 56% of them were children (15 younger
than 14 years of age and 33 aged 14-18). The majority
of victims were exposed to sexual exploitation (53 –
27 adult and 26 minor females), followed by labour
exploitation (12 – 4 boys, one girl, three adult men
and 4 women), forced marriage (6 – two girls and two
adult women) and coercion into petty crime (3 – two
boys and one adult man). The Belgrade Police and
the Novi Sad Police filed the most criminal reports
(10 and 14 respectively). Criminal reports were filed
against 94 perpetrators (71 men and 20 women), only
three of whom are not the citizens of Serbia.
1
According to the criteria of the Agency for Coordination of Protection of Trafficking Victims, potential victims are persons identified
at the beginning of the trafficking process, i.e. in the transit stage, before their exploitation has started.
Anti-trafficking activities in Serbia
January-December 2009
2009
Within the process of standardization of services in the social welfare system, on January 12, the Republican Social Welfare Institute organized the first meeting of the focus
group that was gathered to work on defining
standards for the service of Shelter for Trafficking Victims. The participants – representatives of the Agency for Coordination of Protection of Trafficking Victims, OSCE Mission
to Serbia, the Shelter for Domestic Violence
Survivors from Niš, the Shelter for Trafficking Victims, NGO Atina, the Ministry of the
Interior, the Ministry of Labor and Social
Policy, IOM, Safe House for Violence Survivors from Novi Sad and three trafficking survivors – had opportunity to learn something
about the general concept of standards and
the need to develop the service of shelter
for trafficking survivors and their standardization. At the second meeting, which took
place on February 4, and which was attended
by ASTRA representatives, the participants
worked on the preparation of the draft for
minimum standards for the service of shelter for trafficking victims and gave specific
suggestions for standards that make up the
minimum requirements for quality protection. The third meeting was held on March
11, where, based on the suggestions and
proposals of the task force, the draft document “Specification of the Service of Shelter
for Trafficking Victims” was made. This document contains the definition of this service,
the target group of beneficiaries, activities it
involves and functional standards.
ASTRA presented, at the press conference in
Belgrade on February 18, “Human Trafficking – Manual for Journalists” published with
support of OSCE Mission to Serbia. Speakers at the conference were the representa-
2
Anti-Trafficking Program. The seminars, intended both for Red Cross staff whose job would be
to work on this program and volunteers that
would work as educators in their local communities, took place in Divčibare, Divljana and
Vršački Breg. Seminars were implemented
in cooperation with the Interior Ministry, the
Academy for Police and Criminalistic Studies
and NGO Atina.
tives of OSCE Mission and ASTRA, as well as
some of the authors - Saša Leković, Olivera
Miloš Todorović and Miša Stojiljković. In Novi
Sad, the Manual was presented at the press
conference held at the Independent Association of Journalists of Vojvodina on March
16. Speakers at the conference were the
representatives of OSCE Mission and ASTRA
and Svenka Savić, author of the analysis of
terminology used in articles about human
trafficking published in the Serbian print media. The third press conference took place in
Media Center Niš on April 6.
Documentary series “The Tree of Life/A
STRANGE FOREST”, produced by Olivera
Miloš Todorović, was presented at the press
conference in Belgrade on February 27. On
that occasion, the author and the representatives of the Ministry of Labor and Social
Policy and NGOs Child Rights Center, Family and ASTRA talked about the project and
about better protection of children. One
sequence of the documentary, which was
aired on TV Studio B, addressed the topic of
child trafficking.
During February, the Red Cross of Serbia,
with support of the Danish Red Cross and
the Norwegian Red Cross, conducted three
training seminars for new educators in the
During January and February, the volunteers
of the Red Cross local branches held 34 informative workshops on the problem of human
trafficking. The workshops were intended for
primary and secondary school pupils, volunteers and adults in several towns in Serbia
(Belgrade, Niš, Gornji Milanovac, Loznica,
Mionica, Negotin, Novi Pazar, Senta, Šabac,
Vranje, Prijepolje, Priboj, Raška).
On March 9, NGO Roma Information Center,
in cooperation with secondary schools from
Kragujevac, organized a competition of youth
theatre plays under the title “Using Culture to
Fight Human Trafficking”. The competition took
place at the Second Kragujevac High School.
This event was part of the project “Community
Mobilization in Combating Human Trafficking
in Serbia”, implemented by CARE International
NWB with financial support of the Norwegian
Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The National Assembly of the Republic of Ser-
bia ratified Council of Europe’s Convention on
Action against Trafficking in Human Beings
on 18 March. This Convention is focused on
the prevention of trafficking, the protection
of victims and the prosecution of traffickers.
It should be applied to all victims equally –
women, men and children, to all forms of exploitation (sexual exploitation, forced labor,
servitude, organ removal, etc), as well as to
all forms of human trafficking – national and
transnational, whether it is in relation with organized crime or not.
On March 26 – 27, Child Rights Center organized in Belgrade the Training for the Monitoring and Reporting on the Implementation of
Optional Protocols to the UN Convention on
the Rights of the Child (Optional Protocol on
the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflicts
and Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children,
Child Prostitution and Child Pornography). On
that occasion, a coalition of NGOs from the
whole Serbia was formed to work on these alternative reports.
On March 28 – 30, ASTRA carried out the third
training “Human/Child Trafficking – Prevention and Education” at the Regional Center
for Professional Development of Educators in
Niš. The training, which had 27 participants
(Niš, Prokuplje, Blace, Dimitrovgrad, Aleksinac,
Babušnica and Kuršumlija.), was conducted
as the optional professional development
program accredited by the Institute for the Advancement of Education and Upbringing. The
fourth training took place in Belgrade on April
10-12. The training had 28 participants from
Belgrade, Bujanovac, Vranje, Novi Pazar, Vlasotince, Negotin, Rekovac and Dimitrovgrad.
The teachers who attended the training had
opportunity to learn something about different aspects of the human/child trafficking
problem and prevention strategies; they also
made action plans for prevention activities in
their schools.
On March 30, the Red Cross of Serbia, in
cooperation the Interior Ministry, the Academy for Criminalistic and Police Studies, the
Agency for Coordination of Protection of Trafficking Victims and the Institute for Forensic
Medicine, organized the Seminar for Medical Doctors and Medical Staff, under the
title “Contact With A Trafficked Person – How
to Recognize and React”.
On April 2, Citizens’ Association “Svet reči”
from Velika Plana organized in the primary
school in Lapovo, upon the invitation of
the School Security Team, lecture “Human
Trafficking as a Form of Organized Crime”.
Besides the pupils and the teachers of this
primary school, the lecture was attended by
the representatives of local community, journalists and police officers.
NGO Atina held a roundtable in Novi Pazar
on April 7 with the participation of twenty
representatives of the judiciary, prosecutor’s
offices, social welfare centers, secondary
schools, health centers, municipal administrations, the media and NGOs from Novi
Pazar and Sjenica. Participants exchanged
information on local communities’ capacities to identify, refer and protect trafficking
victims and agreed on the implementation
of informative campaign in the territory of
these two municipalities.
SGBV Coordination Meeting took place in
Belgrade on April 13. The participants had
the opportunity to hear the presentation
of the activities of NGO Out of Circle and a
case study on violence against women with
disabilities; joint anti trafficking project developed by UNHCR, IOM and UNODC; and
the website/magazine/activities related to
domestic violence carried by NGO “Oaza sigurnosti” from Kragujevac.
The Creative Cultural Club from Starčevo
organized on April 16 a public session
about the problem of human trafficking.
For more than two hours, ASTRA representatives talked with the citizens about this
serious social problem, its causes and consequences, as well as about local experiences, which was very interesting having in
mind that this region had been for a long
time the point from where trafficking victims were distributed to other countries or
to other Serbian towns.
For the third year in a row, the representatives of the Academy for Criminalistic and
Police Studies, ASTRA and the police gave
a three-hour lecture on human trafficking within the Criminalistics Course at the
Kragujevac University Law School on April
23 . The aim of the lecture was to discuss
with students human trafficking as a criminal offense and what had been done that
far in the area of prevention, suppression
and punishing of this crime in view of domestic and international practice.
3
The representative of the Serbian Interior
Ministry attended the Technical Seminar
on human trafficking for labor exploitation
with emphasis on agriculture. The Seminar,
which took place in Vienna on April 27 –
28 in OSCE organization, brought together
more than one hundred officials, including
labor inspectors, law enforcement agents,
social workers, immigration officials and
prosecutors from OSCE region. This is the
first seminar of its kind to focus on agriculture as a specific sector of human trafficking
for labor exploitation. It aimed at increasing
governments’ understanding of the factors
making people vulnerable to exploitation.
The OSCE Special Representative for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, Eva
Biaudet on that occasion said: “It is widely
accepted that there are large numbers of
unrecognized victims. I am convinced that
this is especially the case when it comes
to the agricultural sector. This exploitation
usually takes place in remote areas where
the worker is dependent on the employer for
almost all necessities of life, making her or
him vulnerable to abuse.”
Within the project “Gender Sensitization –
Prevention of Gender Based Violence and
Human Trafficking”, which is supported
by OAK Foundation, Citizens’ Association
“Svet reči” from Velika Plana organized in
Smederevo on April 29 public session “Human Trafficking as a Form of Organized
Crime”. Speakers at the session were the
representatives of the Academy for Police
and Criminalistic Studies and CA “Svet reči”.
The event was attended by 150 persons.
Similar public session took place in Petrovac
na Mlavi on May 19.
On April 30, the Government of Serbia
adopted the National Action Plan for Com-
4
bating Trafficking in Human Beings for the
period 2009-2011. The adoption of the AntiTrafficking National Action Plan is one of the
technical conditions for the liberalization of
visa regime with the European Union.
Mandatory Instruction on Dealing with
Smuggled Persons, issued by the Interior
Minister on April 7, 2009, came into force
on May 1. This Instruction is mandatory for
all police officers who come in contact with
persons that have illegally crossed state border or are unlawfully staying in the territory
of our country. This Instruction is based on a
broader definition of a smuggled person, i.e.
a smuggled person is considered to be both
the person who paid the other person to facilitate his/her illegal border crossing and the
person who illegally crosses the border without anyone’s help. Besides other vulnerable
categories, special treatment is foreseen for
trafficked persons, too. The Annex of the Instruction contains recommended questions
for interviewing a smuggled person, as well
as typical examples when trafficking victims
may be found among smuggled migrants.
ASTRA representative attended the Sofia
International Forum on Combating Child
Trafficking: Challenges, Promising Practices
and Cooperation, which took place in Sofia,
Bulgaria on May 7 – 8 . The event was organized by the Bulgarian National Commission
for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings
and UN.GIFT. The goal of the Forum was
to share promising practices in the field of
combating child trafficking and to address
present and future challenges in order to
come up with effective solutions to fight this
crime. The participants also had the opportunity to hear something about the AustrianBulgarian model to reduce the number of
trafficked children, which was developed
and advanced over the past several years.
Regional UNODC Coordinator Carla Chivarella said that children were the key group in
human trafficking in Southeastern Europe.
Namely, child trafficking in SEE countries is
higher compared to the rest of Europe. The
most vulnerable are minority groups and especially Roma children. According to Ms. Chivarella, the problem that impedes an effective fight against child trafficking in Bulgaria
is the lack of data and information, because
these children do not even have a formal
registration in the relevant institution.
Citizens’ Association “Svet reči” from Velika
Plana has been implementing the project
“I Won’t be the Victim! I Am Not for Sale”,
with BCIF’s support. Within this project, on
May 13, volunteers of this organization were
distributing educational and promotional
materials. The action took place in the club
“Reka” and was covered by local TV station “Laki”, which had been showing, since
April until September, a series about human
trafficking under the slogan “I am not for
sale”. On June 2 – 5, a series of preventive
anti-trafficking workshops was held in Velika Plana. The workshops were attended by
pupils of two secondary schools from this
town. Their task was to write short human
trafficking scenarios, the best of which were
acted out within the performance “A Doll in
the Window” on July 13. Awareness raising
activities were also organized within “Plana
Demo Fest” on July 23. Another action was
organized on September 23, in the school
yard of the Velika Plana High School, when
37 pupils from all secondary schools in Velika Plana participated in drawing on the floor
on the topic of human trafficking. One day
later, performance titled “Everything is For
Sale” was organized on the green market.
High school graduates from Belgrade,
Pančevo, Kikinda, Pirot, Senta, Zaječar,
Leskovac, Negotin, Apatin, Novi Pazar, Niš
and other Serbian towns, danced in the
streets of their towns, together with their
peers in other European countries, within
the traditional manifestation “Dance with
Europe” on May 15. At this year’s parade,
the high school graduates took an oath of
non-violence. As an introduction to this oath,
ASTRA Peer Education Team carried out a
series of workshops on the problem of human trafficking and violence in Belgrade
high schools.
The representatives of the Serbian Interior
Ministry, the Ministry of Human and Minority Rights and IOM Belgrade office attended
the seminar “Human Trafficking Prevention”, which took place in Haifa, Israel, on
May 17 – 24. The seminar was organized by
MASHAV – National Center for International
Cooperation and International Organization
for Migrations.
The Anti-Trafficking Alliance launched a
short documentary “Behind the Smile”
in London on May 19. This documentary, featuring exclusive testimony and
insightful analysis, aims to raise awareness amongst young men of the causes
and consequences of sex trafficking and
the role they play in perpetuating or tackling this human rights abuse. According
to ASTRA representative, who attended
the premiere, this film talks about the
human trafficking phenomenon in an
original way and brings a new approach
to this topic.
NGO Atina, in cooperation with OSCE Mission
to Serbia, at the initiative of the Kruševac
Social Welfare Center, held a seminar aimed
at strengthening the capacities of SWC staff
for the identification and referral of and assistance to trafficked persons. The seminar
took place on May 19. Another important
aspect of the seminar was to introduce the
participants with the mandate of the Agency
for Coordination of Protection of Trafficking
Victims and ways of cooperation. Participants of the seminar were 16 professionals
from Kruševac, Brus and Ćuprija
Newly founded NGO ANTOS from Kraljevo
organized the Anti-Trafficking Week in this
town on May 25 – 27.. On the first day, a
public session was held in the Multimedia
Center “Kvart”, where the representatives
of ASTRA and UNODC Belgrade office and
Dušan Vojvodić, author of the documentary
“Illegal Migrations – Human Trafficking Child Trafficking” talked about the problem
of trafficking in human beings. On this occasion, a photo exhibition of the members
of Kraljevo Foto Kino Club on the topic of
human trafficking was opened. On the second day, the representative of the local
social welfare center gave a lecture about
trafficking in children. On the third day, the
coordinator of the Counseling against Family
Violence talked at the panel for the judiciary,
the police and the education system about
trafficking in women. The entire manifestation was accompanied by the screening of
thematic documentaries and street actions,
were educational material was handed out
to the citizens of Kraljevo.
The premiere of the documentary “The News
is That I Have Been Abused” produced by Incest Trauma Center took place in Belgrade
on May 25 . This is the first documentary in
Serbia created on the basis of actual testimonies of eight women who experienced sexual
violence in their childhood and who decided
to publicly talk about that. The documentary
was be screened in several Serbian towns
and throughout the region.
Manual “Social Inclusion of Human Trafficking Victims”, produced by IOM Mission to
Serbia, Republican Social Welfare Institute
and NGO Atina, was presented at a press
conference in Belgrade on June 3. The Manual is intended for professionals engaged in
the field of protection of trafficked persons.
It offers a comprehensive framework for
5
the sustainable protection and assistance
to those who need it most. The Manual has
been published with financial support of
USAID, SIDA and IOM.
The conference under the title “Easier Said
than Done” was organized in London on June
11 – 12 to mark the 20th anniversary of the
UN Convention on the Rights of the Child by
the Institute of Child Health. The conference,
inter alia, sought to evaluate theory and
practice, assess the value of the CRC on the
ground and devise multi-faceted approaches
to meet new challenges. Through numerous
panels and exchange of experiences among
international organizations, NGOs, lawyers,
policy-makers, academics, experts, practitioners, and professionals working with children, it aimed to identify greater synergies
between all players and reach recommendations for more responsive implementation
measures. ASTRA representative attended
this conference, where one presentation
was given by the representative of Child
Rights Center.
NGO Cube from Novi Sad, with the support
of the Provincial Secretariat for Social Policy
and Demography of the Vojvodina Executive Council, held on July 2 a basic training
on the human trafficking problem for NGO
representatives and the students of social
sciences and humanities of the University of
Novi Sad.
The Interior Ministry of Serbia produced a
preventive video “Stop Human Trafficking”
which was broadcasted during the Universiade in Belgrade in July on several TV stations
(RTS, RTV, B92, PINK, FOX, Kosava, Avala,
Studio B, Panonija, TV Apolo). The video can
be found at the website of the Interior Minis-
try and at its YouTube page: http://www.
youtube.com/user/PolicijaSrbije#play/
search/6/C_LYWbfL8Io
The Office for Youth of the Belgrade City
Administration celebrated the International Students’ Week on September 9 – 16.
On the occasion of the International Youth
Day, NGOs, associations and groups dealing with youth policy, the affirmation and
organization of young people or in other
way involved in the promotion of the interest and social role of young people, gathered in downtown Belgrade on August 12
to present their work and activities. NGO
ASTRA took part in this event.
On August 31, the Serbian Parliament
passed amendments and supplements to
the Criminal Code of Serbia (Official Gazette of RS, no. 72/09). This has brough
about significant novelties in Article 388
– Human Trafficking, Article 389 –Trafficking in Minors for Adoption and Article 185
– Showing Pornographic Materials and
Abuse of Children for Pornography.
During July, August and September, activists of the Red Cross of Serbia held a
series of workshops, public sessions and
camps across Serbia intended for primary
and secondary school pupils, teachers,
persons living in collective centers for refugees and IDPs and NGO activists, aimed
at anti-trafficking education and prevention measures. These activities were carried out with the support of the Norwegian
and the Danish Red Cross and local Red
Cross organizations. Moreover, on September 15-29, the Red Cross of Serbia
organized three seminars titled “Contact
With A Trafficked Person – How To Rec-
6
ognize and How To React”. The seminar
aimed at the awareness raising and sensitization of medical doctors and medical
staff employed in health centers in Serbia
and their informing of the right to health
care of persons identified as the victims
of trafficking.
Regional workshop on fighting against trafficking in human beings in the Western Balkans took place in Tirana, Albania on September 10-11. The event was organized by
the European Commission within its TAIEX
Project. The workshop aimed at facilitating exchange of information with a view
to encouraging cross-border cooperation
between authorities involved in the fight
against trafficking in the Western Balkans
and at promoting a regional approach in
suppressing this problem among Western
Balkan countries and with neighboring
countries. On this occasion, the representatives of participating countries presented
the latest figures and facts on local human
trafficking situation. Serbian participants at
the workshop were the representatives of
the Interior Ministry, Justice Ministry, Ministry for Labor and Social Policy and NGO
ASTRA.
At the press center in Belgrade on 23 September, the Victimology Society of Serbia
presented a book “Trafficking in Men in
Serbia”, which contains the results of the
research into trafficking in men carried out
within a two-year project “Men as Trafficked
Persons in Serbia”. This project is supported by the US State Department – Office to
Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons.
On September 25, Group 484 organized
roundtable discussion in Belgrade under
the title “Towards the White Schengen List”
to address the issue of visa liberalization
between EU and Serbia. Specific aspects of
the Road Map and the fulfillment of requirements for visa liberalization were discussed
through three panel debates: (1) Safety of
documents and data protection as prerequisites for the liberalization of visa regime;
(2) The role of readmission agreements, migration control and asylum policy in the visa
liberalization process; and (3) Fight against
organized crime and corruption as prerequisites for visa liberalization.
Trafficking and a Survey into how much secondary school pupils from Novi Sad, Bačka
Palanka, Sremska Mitrovica and Subotica
knew about human trafficking. You can read
more about the findings of these surveys in
the previous issues of ASTRA E-Newsletter
and on the website of NGO Cube http://
www.kocka.org.rs.
The Ministry of Telecommunications and
Information Society launched a campaign
for the protection of children on the Internet. The campaign is aimed at educating
children, parents and teachers in order to
prevent on-line abuse of children and youth.
To improve the safety of children on the Internet and reduce their exposure to inappropriate contents, they have launched special
website www.kliknibezbedno.rs. There, you
can find adequate advice and tips intended
for young users and their parents, as well as
a page with useful links, free software and
FAQ section.
In the course of 2009, Novi Sad-based NGO
Cube carried out three surveys: Survey into
the Existing Capacities and Needs of Teachers in the Territory of AP Vojvodina in the
Field of Human Trafficking Prevention, Mapping Human Trafficking Cases and the Level
of Awareness of the Problem of Human
On October 6, the Red Cross of Serbia, in
cooperation the Interior Ministry, the Academy for Criminalistic and Police Studies, the
Agency for Coordination of Protection of Trafficking Victims and the Institute for Forensic
Medicine, organized another seminar for
medical doctors and medical staff, under the
title “Contact With A Trafficked Person – How
To Recognize and How To React”. Moreover,
on October 15 and 16, this organization held
a seminar for future educators within the
Anti Trafficking Program for 30 participants.
The special emphasis was put on how to adjust the topic so that it could be an integral
part of all activities the Red Cross is carrying out for and in cooperation with the Roma
community. During October, the volunteers
of the Red Cross local branches held around
100 informative workshops on the problem
of human trafficking. The workshops were
intended for primary and secondary school
pupils, volunteers, army troops and adults
in several towns in Serbia (Gornji Milanovac,
Loznica, Mionica, Negotin, Senta, Šabac,
Vranje, Prijepolje, Priboj, Medveđa, Kraljevo,
Kikinda, Osečina, Kladovo, Pančevo, Sremska Mitrovica, Boljevac, Kragujevac, Kanjiža,
Ivanjica).
ASTRA representative attended the fourteenth OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meeting, which took place in Warsaw from 28 September to 9 October. This
meeting brought together a great number of
participants - government representatives,
experts and human rights defenders - from
the OSCE area and partner countries as well
as international organizations. Organized by
the Office for Democratic Institutions and
Human Rights (ODIHR), it aimed at reviewing the implementation of a broad range of
OSCE human dimension commitments.
ASTRA representative attended a Regional
Workshop which took place in Bucharest,
Romania, on October 13 - 15. The workshop
was organzied by the International Trade
Union Confederation/Pan-European Regional Council (ITUC-PERC) and Anti-Slavery
International in the framework of a two-year
joint initiative against trafficking for labour
exploitation in Europe, supported by the European Commission. The initiative is hoping
to bring together NGOs and trade unions
across Europe, to raise awareness; share
good practice; foster communication and
development of an integrated strategy for
workplace action on trafficking and the protection of trafficked people. A strategy applicable across Europe, that carried forward
by a group of NGOs and trade unions that
would continue working jointly to prevent
and address trafficking and related issues.
On the occasion of the European Anti Trafficking Day, an exhibition of children’s art
was opened in Belgrade on October 18.
These works resulted from the competition
“Modern Slavery” organized by the Interior
Ministry in 2007, while the best work was
printed in the form of special supplementary
postage stamp that was in sale during January 2008. The exhibition was supported by
the Delegation of the European Commission
in Serbia, while the National Bank of Serbia
7
we stand and how to set standards relating
to prevention, stereotyping (which images to
use), shelter and safety rules, the establishment of national referral mechanisms, external cooperation with partners, data collection
and protection, transparency and democracy.
supported the printing of the best works as
Year 2010 calendars. Guests at this event
were the representatives of ministries and
institutions relevant for combating human
trafficking in Serbia, the National Bank of
Serbia, nongovernmental organizations and
children – authors of the best works.
All police departments throughout Serbia
were carrying out in the course of October
numerous preventive activities intended,
above all, to school children, in cooperation
with local social welfare centers and nongovernmental organizations.
During October ASTRA representatives gave
numerous lectures on the topic of human
trafficking. On October 21, in cooperation
with Border Police Department for Aliens,
Illegal Migrations and Human Trafficking
of the Šabac Police, ASTRA representatives
gave a lecture to the pupils of Secondary
School for Economics and Commerce in
this town. To mark October – Anti Trafficking Month, the Border Police Department
for Aliens, Illegal Migrations and Human
Trafficking of the Užice Police, in cooperation with the Užice Social Welfare Center,
organized on October 22 a public session
on the topic of human trafficking. Speakers
at the session were the representatives of
ASTRA and Center for Girls Užice, as well
as the representatives from host institutions. In the coming months, the police officers of this Department held 27 lectures
within their prevention and education plan
for school pupils in seven secondary schools
and four primary schools in Užice. These lectures were attended by 1804 pupils. “Trag”
Gallery from Sremčica organized on October
23 a public session about the problem of human trafficking. The representatives of ASTRA and of Serbian Interior Ministry talked
with large audience about this serious social
problem, its causes and consequences, and
effective protection strategies.
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On October 22, ASTRA representative
held a lecture on the human trafficking issues in conflict areas at the “Triple
Course” (military staff course, police course
and civilian UN course) organized by Swedish Armed Forces International Centre/
SWEDINT.
The representatives of the Association of
Women and Mothers ANNA from Novi Pazar,
together with the representative of the Novi
Pazar Police Department, held a lecture
“What Is Human Trafficking?” on October 29
in Crkvine, Tutin municipality. This lecture,
organized within the celebration of October
– Anti Trafficking Month, was attended by
around 50 pupils and teachers from the local school.
In cooperation with the Judiciary Center, the
European Commission, within TAIEX Program, organized a two-day seminar “Fighting against trafficking in human beings:
policy measures and targeted actions at the
national and European level”. The seminar,
intended for judges and prosecutors, took
place in Belgrade on October 29 and 30. On
this occasion, the representatives of IOM,
Italian Justice Ministry, Belgium federal police, NGO PAGASA from Belgium and others
shared European experiences in fighting human trafficking.
ASTRA representative was one of the participants at NGO platform meeting under the
title “20th years after the fall of the Berlin
Wall – where do we stand?”, organized by
La Strada International in Berlin on 9 and 10
November. Participants – relevant European
anti-trafficking organizations - discussed how
NGOs to cope with current realities in the antitrafficking work and how to best serve the interests of trafficked persons within the system.
A starting point was a need to redefine where
Agreement on Cooperation of the Ministries of the Interior, Finance, Labor and
Social Policy, Education and Justice in
the Area of Combating Human Trafficking
was signed on November 12. This Agreement
aims to ensure coordinated anti-trafficking policy, especially in the area of prevention, education and protection of victims. It envisages
the harmonization of work and coordination of
activities of state authorities in the protection
of victims in order to ensure the sustainability
of protection and reintegration programs, especially in terms of providing accommodation
for victims. Agreement on establishing a Council for fighting illegal migrations was signed on
the same occasion.
Regional Workshop to Finalize Guidelines on
International Legal Cooperation Instruments
in the Area of Anti Human Trafficking and
Smuggling of Migrants was held in Belgrade
on November 24 - 26, in the organization of the
Ministry of the Interior, Ministry of Justice and
UNODC. In addition to the topic contained in
the title of the workshop, the participants also
discussed the problem of corruption in the
context of human trafficking, the linkages between these two criminal phenomena and international/regional strategies and responses
against them. The participants of the workshop
were the representatives from the police, the
judiciary, prosecutor’s offices and national
anti-trafficking coordinators of participating
countries, as well as the representatives of
relevant international and nongovernmental
organizations.
Within the project “Strengthening Social Activities for Employment and Career”, which is
implemented as a part of the Action Plan of
the Strategy for Youth, Novi Sad-based NGO
Cube carried on three trainings in October
and November for senior pupils of secondary
schools in Novi Sad. The trainings focused
on the problem of human trafficking in order
to raise pupil’s awareness once they enter
the labor market. This activity was implemented with support of the Ministry of Youth
and Sport.
On 4 – 6 December, ASTRA carried out the
training “Human/child Trafficking – Prevention and Education” in Belgrade. The training, which had 26 participants (Belgrade,
Mladenovac, Obrenovac and Pančevo.), was
conducted as the optional professional development program accredited for the second year in a row by the Institute for the Advancement of Education and Upbringing.
On December 8, ASTRA representatives
gave a lecture at the Faculty of Political Sciences in Belgrade. The lecture was intended
for the students of the Social Work Department, who, as future professionals in the social welfare system, would be in contact with
(potential) trafficking victims and persons at
risk of being recruited into the human trafficking chain.
At the reception held in Belgrade on December 10 to mark Human Rights Day, Biljana Branković presented her study “Response to Silent Criticism – Mapping the
Services Provided by Nongovernmental
Organizations in Serbia” commissioned by
the UN”s Thematic Group on Gender. The
theme of this year’s Human Rights Day
was discrimination against women.
Marking 16 Days of Activism against Violence against Women, NGO Center for
Cultural Affirmation from Dimitrovgrad
organzied a street action in this town on
December 18. The street action aimed at
the public awareness raising of violence
against women and specifically of human
trafficking. Throughout the autumn, The
Center, in cooperation with the police,
conducted numerous preventive activities,
including lectures, workshops and media
appearances, that targeted both school
children and general public.
Group 484, in cooperation with the Euro-
pean Integration Office of the Government
of Serbia, within the project supported by
the Balkan Trust for Democracy, Fund for
Open Society, Open Society Institute EastEast Programme and European Fund for
Balkans, organized a regional conference
“Western Balkans Towards White Schengen List” in Belgrade on December 18.
The participants, representatives from
the European Commission, the European
Parliament, governments of Serbia and
of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Delegation
of the European Commission to Serbia,
embassies in Serbia, as well as the representatives of civil society, academic public and the media of the Western Balkan
countries – discussed within two panels:
(1) Assessment of the visa liberalization
process by key stakeholders and (2) Presentation of the Civil Society Monitoring
Reports “Western Balkans Towards White
Schengen List”.
Activities of the National Team for Combating Human Trafficking in 2009
T
he new National Coordinator was appointed in late 2008, after which the activities of the National Team for Combating
Human Trafficking intensified. Below is a
chronological overview of the most important activities of the Team in 2009.
The meeting of the Advisory Body of the
National Team for Combating Human Trafficking was held on the premises of the Ministry of the Interior in Belgrade on 12 January 2009. The representatives of the Interior
Ministry, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Labor
and Social Policy, the Ministry of Health,
the Agency for Coordination of Protection
of Trafficking Victims, NGOs ASTRA and
Beosupport, IOM, UNHCR, UNICEF, UNODC and OSCE Mission to Serbia attended
the meeting. The goal of the meeting was to
discuss the designing of the National Action
Plan for Combating Human Trafficking.
Before the work on the Anti-Trafficking
NAP started, all four Working Groups met to
evaluate their work up to that date and discuss priorities for national action planning.
The Working Group for Victim Assistance
and Protection, coordinated by the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy, met on 16
January on the premises of OSCE Mission to
Serbia. Present at this meeting were the National Coordinator and the representatives of
the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy, the
Interior Ministry, the Agency for Coordination of Protection of Trafficking Victims,
NGOs ASTRA, Atina, Counseling against
Family Violence and Victimology Society of
Serbia, IOM and OSCE Mission. The Working Group for Prevention and Education had
a meeting on 19 January on ASTRA’s (Working Group coordinator) premises. Present at
this meeting were the National Coordinator
and the representatives of the Interior Ministry, NGOs ASTRA and Beosupport, the
National Employment Service, OSCE Mission, IOM and the Red Cross of Serbia. The
Working Group for Child Trafficking, coordinated by NGO Beosupport, met on 20
January. This meeting was attended by the
National Coordinator and the representatives of the Interior Ministry, NGOs ASTRA,
Children’s Rights Center, Atina and Pomoć
deci, the Agency for Coordination of Protection of Trafficking Victims, OSCE Mission,
UNICEF and IOM. The Working Group for
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Law Enforcement also had a meeting in this
period.
The workshop for the members of the National Team for Combating Human Trafficking focused on the drafting of the NPA for
Combating Human Trafficking 2009-2011
took place on 23 January. The Anti Trafficking NPA was developed through work of
five thematic groups: (1) institutional framework, (2) prevention, (3) victim assistance,
protection and reintegration, (4) international cooperation and (5) monitoring the implementation of anti-trafficking mechanisms
and the evaluation of results. In the following days, the draft was completed and sent to
the Ministries for their opinions.
In the following round of meetings, Working Groups had task to agree on priority
activities from the NPA, which implementation could be funded from the republican
budget. The Working Group for Prevention
and Education met on 23. February, the
Working Group for Child Trafficking on 2
March and the Working Group for Victim
Assistance and Protection on 3 March. The
Working Group for Law Enforcement also
had a meeting in this period.
The Working Groups’ recommendations
were to be discussed at the meeting of the
Advisory Body of the National Team for
Combating Human Trafficking on 25 February. The participants agreed that all Working Groups which had not done it yet should
submit their proposals for priority NPA activities with the breakdown of costs to the
National Coordinator, as well as their suggestions and opinions on the roles and tasks
of the members of the National Team. It has
been concluded that the National Team do
not operate very efficiently because it is too
massive and to the greatest extent composed
of passive members. As far as NPA is concerned, after gathering the opinions from all
members, a list of priorities was made and
sent to the National Coordinator. He then
discussed, with the state authority in charge
of amendments to the budget, the possibilities for financing these activities.
At the meeting of the National Team for
Combating Human Trafficking on 18 March,
the participants were informed about the
progress of NPA, which adoptions was expected shortly. A sub-group for cooperation
with the media was formed of the representatives of Children’s Rights Center, ASTRA,
Save the Children and Ministry of the Interior. This group should be in charge of press
releases and responding to all events pertaining to the human trafficking problem.
The Working Group for Prevention and Edu-
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cation of the National Team for Combating
Human Trafficking met on 16 April 2009 on
ASTRA’s premises. Present at this meeting
were the National Coordinator and the representatives of the Interior Ministry, NGOs
ASTRA and Beosupport, and IOM. Besides
discussion about group members’ ongoing
activities, the main focus of the meeting was
on activities foreseen in the Anti Trafficking NAP to be carried out in 2009. It was
agreed to start working on NAP Items 5.4.1.
and 5.2.1., i.e. Mapping training programs
for different stakeholders that have been
carried out so far and Mapping vulnerable
groups, territories under risk and researches
conducted in the field of human/child trafficking. Other Working Groups did not have
meetings during the second quarter of 2009.
The Advisory Body of the National Team for
Combating Human Trafficking had a meeting on 27 May 2009 with the presence of the
National Coordinator and the representatives
of the Interior Ministry, the Ministry of Justice, the Agency for Coordination of Protection of Trafficking Victims, NGOs ASTRA
and Beosupport, and international organizations IOM, UNHCR, UNICEF, UNODC
and OSCE Mission to Serbia. The meeting
was focused on further planning of activities foreseen under the Anti Trafficking NAP
2009-2011. It was agreed with OSCE representative that this organization would provide the translation of the Anti Trafficking
NAP into English. Slađana Jovanović, assistant professor and Violeta Beširević, professor at the Union University Law School
were proposed as Serbian representatives in
GRETA. It was agreed that the members of
the National Team for Combating Human
Trafficking should send, by 3 June, their
opinions on the draft of the inter-ministerial
agreement in the area of combating human
trafficking.
At the meeting of the National Team for
Combating Human Trafficking on 17 June,
the National Coordinator and the representatives of the Interior Ministry, the Ministry of
Justice, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the
Ministry for Human and Minority Rights,
the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy, the
Ministry of Education, the Agency for Coordination of Protection of Trafficking Victims,
the Red Cross of Serbia, NGOs ASTRA,
Beosupport, Atina, Children’s Rights Center,
Pomoć deci - Fond hrišćanske dece, Save the
Children UK, Counseling against Family Violence, and international organizations UNHCR and OSCE Mission to Serbia agreed to
wait for the passage of the new Act on Associations, which was a prerequisite for arranging relations within the National Team. After
that, suggestions for the future model of the
organization and functioning of the National
Team should be made. Moreover, the Team
discussed US State Departments TIP Report
2009 that had been released one day earlier.
The Media Group of the Republican Team
prepared a press release regarding the TIP
Report. Another topic discussed was NGOs’
interest in participating in the Organizational
Committee for marking the Anti Trafficking
Month of October.
On 16 September, the National Team - the
National Coordinator and the representatives
of the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry for Human
and Minority Rights, the Ministry for Labor
and Social Policy, the Agency for Coordination of Protection of Trafficking Victims, the
Red Cross of Serbia, NGOs ASTRA, Beosupport, Atina, Child Rights Center, Pomoć
deci - Fond hrišćanske dece, Counseling
against Family Violence, the Victimology
Society of Serbia and international organizations Save the Children UK, OSCE Mission to Serbia and IOM – discussed, among
other things, the most important activities
carried out by the National Coordinator and
the members of the working groups since the
previous meeting; the spending of funds collected for victim assistance through the sale
of additional postage stamp during January
2008 which the Agency for Coordination
of Protection of Trafficking Victims was in
charge of; the decision of the Interior Minister to set up a task force for the coordination
of the activities aimed at the implementation
of the Anti-Trafficking National Action Plan
2009-2011 with regard to the design of antitrafficking curricula and plans for police officers; problems in current financing faced
by the organizations that run the shelters for
trafficked persons. The National Coordinator invited all the attendants to share their
plans and proposals for joint activities to
take place in October – Anti-Trafficking
Month.
The last meeting of the National Team was
held on 16 December in the presence of the
National Coordinator and the representatives of the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry for Labor and
Social Policy, the Agency for Coordination
of Protection of Trafficking Victims, NGOs
ASTRA, Atina, Child Rights Center, Pomoć
deci - Fond hrišćanske dece, Counseling
against Family Violence, the Victimology
Society of Serbia and international organizations UNICEF, UNHCR, OSCE Mission
to Serbia and IOM, and two guests – Gordana Jakic Bradajic from Public Prosecutors Office and Bojana Maljevic from Monte
Royal Pictures International. National Coordinator presented to the participants the
Agreement on cooperation in combating human trafficking signed between the Interior
Ministry and other relevant Ministries and
measures taken in order to solve the problem
of financing shelters. Moreover, the participants were informed about the progress of
Bojana Maljević’s project – series “Modern
Slavery”, the dynamics of public debate on
the Social Protection Bill (which text could
be found at the website of this Ministry) and
the progress in designing the Model National Strategy for Combating Child Trafficking.
Other topics discussed include the upcoming amendments to the Criminal Code of
Serbia, the setting up of the Working Group
for research at the initiative of the Victimology Society of Serbia and the destiny of
Team’s candidate for GRETA, i.e. whether
to propose new candidates since the state is
not ready to support the existing ones. It was
agreed to continue in 2010 the quarterly dynamic of the meetings of the National Team
for Combating Human Trafficking. Other
conclusions are as follows:
1. All members of the Team should send
their comments and suggestions to the reports from the meetings to all other members and not only to the sender;
2. Amendments to the article of the Criminal
Code governing trafficking in juveniles for
adoption should be initiated;
3. The Working Group for Victim Assistance
and Protection should analyze, by the end of
February 2010, the Social Protection Bill and
present the findings at the next meeting;
4. All members of the team should be receiving statistical data on anti-trafficking activities monthly;
5. Child Rights center should send, by the
end of February 2010, to all Team members
clean version of the Model National Strategy for Combating Child Trafficking.
IMPRESUM
Prepared by Ivana Radović • ASTRA – Anti Trafficking Action, Belgrade
Tel/fax: +381 11 3347 817 • +381 11 2635 114
E-mail: astranet@sezampro.rs • Web: www.astra.org.rs
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