The International Conference “The Position of Victims of Human Trafficking in the Process of Identification, Assistance, and Safe Return Home – Achievements and Challenges,” organized by the Croatian non-governmental organization “Udruga žena Vukovara” and the Union of Roma Novi Bečej, and funded by the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Republic of Croatia, was held on June 26th in Belgrade.
Participants noted that the victims of trafficking are mostly women and children, and in these areas, many victims are Roma. All speakers agreed that no victim chose to become one, and that it is a consequence of poverty.
“Where are our girls, it is the question of all questions,” asked Danica Jovanovic from the Association of Roma Novi Bečej, stating that child marriages are not a tradition, but a form of human trafficking and a big problem of society, and that the fate of girls who were forcibly married and taken abroad is unknown.
They are also sex workers, mostly victims of human trafficking, Romani women, and Romani people are the poorest population in Europe.
Alen Tahiri, director and national coordinator of the Office for Human and Minority Rights of the Republic of Croatia, also commented on the fact that when he spoke at a gathering of Roma on this topic, men reacted negatively, which indicates that there is no will among them to solve this problem.
According to all conference participants, the education of young Romani women is one of the solutions to the problem of early marriages. Therefore, all institutions in Serbia and Croatia, with the support of non-governmental organizations, should make every effort to keep girls in school or to bring them back to the classrooms. It is also essential that institutions do not discriminate against Romani women and that they have the same status as members of the majority population.
“Why create a new social case instead of empowering these women?” said Aleksandra Ljubojević, the director of the Center for the Protection of Trafficking in Persons in Serbia.
The conference participants agreed that specialized teams need to work with all victims of human trafficking, so that the victims are not further victimized. As Ljubojević mentioned, Serbia has already trained 1000 experts, but the problem is that there aren’t many families equipped to take in underage victims of human trafficking. It is essential that as soon as someone is reported as a victim of human trafficking, they are provided with accommodation in a so-called Safe House and receive a medical examination. However, it is concerning that in both Serbia and Croatia, even though regulations exist in certain hospitals, they are reluctant to examine victims. Often, everything ends up being handled through acquaintances and personal contacts. It is necessary for all of this to be systematically regulated, rather than depending on whether the director of a medical institution is friends with people from the Croatian Office for Human and Minority Rights or the Serbian Center for the Protection of Trafficking in Persons.
The speakers ultimately concluded that since human trafficking is a global issue, all parts of society, both Serbian and Croatian, with the support of European institutions, should work together to combat it.