Figure 1. The Balkan Route. Source: UNHCR
Operation Theseus, conducted in the Balkans in 2019 by the Interpol, that led to the arrest of 72 suspected traffickers and 167 migrant smugglers, elucidates the vulnerability of the Balkan route to human trafficking. The Balkan Peninsula, comprising of the countries Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, North Macedonia, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania and the European territory of Turkey, has paved the way for more than a million people to enter affluent countries in the European Union and seek asylum. However, this aid also hides within it the horrors of trafficking men, women and children. Serbia is one of the transit Balkan countries acting as a source of human trafficking.
Trafficking in Serbia involves multiple forms of coercion and exploitation. Sex trafficking is ubiquitous among women and girls, though men and boys are also involved. This is also inclusive of “survival sex”; sex is offered in exchange for a needed good or service, along with prostitution. Men and boys are frequently exploited for forced labour, commonly in construction. Migrants are also used in the country’s services industry and are coerced into forced begging and marriage.
In addition to sex and labour trafficking, forced migrant smuggling is another prevalent form of subjugation. Migrant smugglers recruit unaccompanied Afghan and Pakistani boys and men and coerce them to handle contraband, including drugs. They are additionally forced to navigate boats from Turkey to Greece and from Libya to Italy. Isolated cases of child selling, illegal adoption and organ removal have also been reported. Moreover, children are compelled into sex trafficking, forced labour, begging, and petty crime.
Figure 2. Women are coerced into sex trafficking and forced marriage. Source: Pexels
Serbian citizens are equally subject to all forms of exploitation. They are frequently trafficked abroad in the EU countries and Russia, or locally, up to 100km from their residence. Recent statistics show that the majority of the recorded cases of trafficking involve local citizens rather than foreigners. However, the reliability and accuracy of these statistics have been questioned by the public. Thus, it is necessary to have an efficient legal structure to combat this issue.
The Government of Serbia does not wholly fulfil the base guidelines for the end of dealing, however, is putting forth critical attempts to do as such. The public authority showed expanding endeavours contrasted with the past. These endeavours included expanding arraignments and operationalizing the critical gathering place following a deferral of five years. The public authority received standard working strategies for the ID, reference, and backing of dealing casualties, embraced the 2019-2020 public activity plan, and dispensed assets towards the arrangement. Further, the government has tried to curb human trafficking to a certain extent by resorting to specific legal measures. They are as follows:
• Prioritized Recommendations:
The Government of Serbia strives to proactively recognize casualties; including among travellers, people in business sex, exiles and refuge searchers, and unaccompanied kids occupied with street begging. Further, in order to enable the Centre for Protection of Trafficking Victims, the allocation of adequate assets to CPTV to actualize casualty assurance endeavours. The government has additionally updated the public reference component to give casualties all essential help benefits by formalizing participation with and repayment to NGOs, as well as through appointing explicit jobs and obligations to government organizations.
• Prosecution:
The Government of Serbia effectively investigates trafficking matters; however, its court regularly forces merciful sentences on indicted parties held guilty of offenses such as sex trafficking and forced labour. The criminal code in Serbia criminally prohibits sex and labour trafficking in article 388 as criminal offenses such as sex trafficking and labour trafficking for which punishments such as penalties ranging from two to 12 years’ imprisonment, were similar to those recommended for other grave offenses, like rape, are endorsed.
Figure 3. Merciful sentences are often given by the court. Source: Pexels
The public authority kept up law requirement endeavours. Article 388 of the criminal code condemned sex dealing and work dealing and recommended punishments going from two to 12 years detainment for offenses involving a grown-up casualty, and three to 12 years detainment for those involving a youngster casualty. The aforementioned punishments were adequately tough and equivalent to those inflicted for crimes such as assault.
Law implementation proceeded with 47 cases pertaining to sex dealings and constrained work from earlier years. Of these, 33 were for sex dealing and 14 for constrained work. The public authority proceeded with indictments of 49 litigants from earlier years. Courts sentenced 15 people for sex dealing, yet none for constrained work. Fourteen dealers were detained and one got a fine, however, the public authority did not gather or report data on the length of the sentences. The Appeals courts upheld two convictions and absolved four people. Eyewitnesses revealed a decision about the regularly given light penalties for dealers, and a few appointed authorities showed casualty accusing attitudes and inclinations against weak populaces.
Figure 4. Detainment can range from 2-12 years. Source: Pexels
The Criminal Police Directorate (CPD) kept an enemy of dealing unit inside the Directorate to Combat Organized Crime. The public authority wrapped up combining the locale to examine dealing under the CPD. In earlier years, the line police and Foreigners Office shared this obligation, which ruined examinations in view of indistinct purview and the ramifications that dealing required a transnational component.
Though there are no accurate statistics to portray the true extent of the trafficking situation, it is nonetheless, important to shine light on this issue and the Siberian government’s response to the crimes. A call for identification and elimination of the substructures of this occurrence by the government is imperative, and additionally, impose a civic duty on the citizens to resist and oppose any form of coercion or exploitation, thereby empowering them.
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