Compassion Without Prejudice is the Core of Addressing Human Trafficking Issues

January 29, 2024, | 2 min read

"The only sustainable solution is dismantling the networks of those who profit from illegal migration and caring for migrants and protecting their rights."

The core of efforts to solve the problems of human trafficking and gender-based violence in migrant populations must be compassion without prejudice, participants at a roundtable on this topic highlighted today in Belgrade.

Edward Ferguson, the British Ambassador to Serbia, opened the roundtable "How to Achieve a More Effective Joint Response to Human Trafficking and Gender-Based Violence in Migrant Populations" by reflecting on the history and several significant waves of migration on the Balkan Peninsula, mentioning the movement of people within the region and their migration outside this area during the 1990s.

"Then we have 2015, with large migrations from the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia, where people fleeing wars passed through the region on their way to Europe. Thousands of illegal migrants using the Western Balkans route, mostly from Turkey, Syria, Afghanistan, and Morocco, continue to pass through Serbia," he said.

The ambassador added that compassion must be at the heart of these efforts and that the only sustainable solution is "dismantling the network" of those who profit from illegal migration, as well as caring for migrants and protecting their rights.

"We have collaborated with the Supreme Public Prosecutor's Office and several public prosecutor's offices, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Border Police, and Customs. We have managed to disrupt the work of criminal groups that profit from human suffering," he said.

Tamara Mirović, a public prosecutor at the Supreme Public Prosecutor's Office, emphasized that there is a fundamental difference between victims of human trafficking and gender-based violence and smuggled migrants.

"Smuggled migrants do not have the status of victims and the rights that victims of human trafficking and gender-based violence have. Correctly distinguishing between these crimes and viewing them as two concentric circles leads to better investigations and proper identification of victims to activate available mechanisms," she said.

Mirović stressed that the most important thing is to work on training personnel and that much work needs to be done at the local level. She added that the system relies too much on motivated individuals competent to solve migrant problems.

Marijana Savić, director of the NGO "Atina," said that most victims were from a few countries worldwide at the time of the organisation's founding. Still, a large number of refugees are now coming from the region.

"We must recognise the problems of migrants without any judgment. An undeniable result of this project is the somewhat better and higher quality information provided to women in reception centres. Continuous awareness of rights is what is most lacking," she said.

She added that over 700 women were informed through consultations last year, and 18 reports were submitted to relevant institutions.

About 40 professionals from the prosecution and judiciary, police, Commissariat for Refugees and Migration, other state organisations, local teams combating human trafficking from Vranje and Subotica, and domestic and international civil society organisations attended this roundtable.

The roundtable was organised as part of the project "Improving Referral and Services for Migrants and Refugees Who Have Survived Gender-Based Violence and Human Trafficking in Serbia," supported by the Government of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland through the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO).

Human trafficking is a challenging and complex crime whose victims are most often women and children, and in some instances, it has the characteristics of organised and transnational crime.

According to the Center for Protection of Victims of Human Trafficking, 66 victims of human trafficking were identified in Serbia in 2023 (62 victims in 2022), and in 62% of cases, the victims were children.

(Beta, photo: Pixabay)

Original article: Okrugli sto: Saosećanje u kome nema predrasuda je srž rešavanja problema trgovine ljudima - Autonomija