prijava
SARAJEVO, October 16 (FENA) - Trafficking in human beings is a modern form of slavery, a violation of fundamental human rights and a serious crime, which the government institutions, with all available mechanisms and in partnership with international and civil society organizations, must resolutely oppose.
This was pointed out today at a press conference in Sarajevo, organized by the Ministry of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina/Department for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings in cooperation with the Lara Foundation Bijeljina/RING Network, the International Organization for Migration - IOM, and the International Solidarity Forum-EMMAUS, as part of the marking of European Anti-Trafficking Day, October 18.
"BiH faces numerous and complex challenges when it comes to human trafficking. This phenomenon persists in BiH as well as in countries around the world," said the coordinator for the fight against human trafficking in BiH, Samir Rizvo, recalling that this is a form of organized crime that is highly profitable.
He stated that the forms of exploitation of victims of human trafficking are constantly changing, which requires an appropriate and timely response from the authorities.
At the same time, he reminded that an additional challenge for Bosnia and Herzegovina is posed by the fact that it has received poor assessment by international monitoring mechanisms (State Department, Council of Europe, European Union), due to which the BiH Council of Ministers adopted a new Strategy for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings to be implemented over the next four years, thus intensifying anti-trafficking efforts.
Director of the USAID Mission to BiH, Nancy J. Eslick, warned of the risk of BiH being listed in Group 3, describing human trafficking as human slavery that degrades the value of human life.
Namely, the State Department in the Report on the Situation of Human Trafficking, which is published every year, ranks countries into four groups (group 1, group 2, group "watch list" and group 3) depending on their success in the fight against human trafficking.
In this context, Eslick notes that BiH has avoided falling to the third level of the list this year, which would have negative repercussions on the future development assistance of the United States Government to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
She underlined that the State Department has given clear guidelines to the BiH authorities on what should be done to avoid its negative positioning, including four specific activities.
This, she said, includes effective investigations and prosecutions of perpetrators of trafficking in human beings, full implementation of the law, and training for those working with victims of trafficking and the distribution of available funds for shelters and assistance to victims.
The importance of synergistic action and coordinated approach, as well as maximum engagement in the fight against human trafficking, was addressed by the Head of the Rule of Law Department of the EUSR Margriet Prins and the Head of the IOM Mission Peter Van der Auweraet via video message, as well as the Head of the Council of Europe Office in BiH Bojana Urumova.
The event marking the European Anti-Trafficking Day was organized as part of a project funded by the United States Agency for International Development USAID in BiH and the Joint Program of the European Union and the Council of Europe "Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey 2019-2022".
(FENA) S. R.
