Position of victims of human trafficking in the process of identification, assistance, and safe return home - achievements and challenges

On June 26th, 2024 in Belgrade was held the International Conference "The position of victims of human trafficking in the process of identification, assistance and safe return home - achievements and challenges" in the partnership of the Association of Women Vukovar and the Association of Roma Novi Becej within the project "Support to victims of human trafficking - strengthening the capacity of experts" which we are actively implementing from 2023, funded by the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Republic of Croatia as part of the cross-border cooperation program.

The focus of the Conference was on the promotion of the protection of human rights and the establishment of intersectoral cooperation of relevant institutions to reduce and solve this problem, as well as the possibilities of improving mechanisms in the fight against human trafficking. Thus, the Conference brought together experts in this area. The central part of the conference was a panel discussion at which the panelists and representatives of civil society institutions and organizations - the representative of the Office for Human Rights and the Rights of National Minorities of the Republic of Croatia Mr. Alen Tahiri, representative of the Center for the Protection of Human Trafficking Ms. Aleksandra Ljubojevic, the Center for Support and Development of Civil Society "Delfin", S.O.S. - Counseling, empowerment, cooperation, representative of NGO Atina Ms Jelena Hrnjak, ASTRA-Anti trafficking action and a representative of the partner organization NGO of Roma Novi Becej representative Ms. Danica Jovanovic spoke about this global problem by providing information on examples of good practice. To strengthen institutions, governmental and non-governmental organizations, and contribute to the implementation of the priorities and visibility of the Republic of Croatia in the field of international development cooperation, experiences were exchanged in providing assistance and support to victims, as well as achievements and challenges we face, to improve institutional support for victims.

The following conclusions were reached during the conference: the importance of institutional solutions to the problem of violence: human trafficking is violence; work on solving the root cause of the problem - poverty; identification is crucial in the process of victim protection mechanisms, including CSOs in those procedures; society must take responsibility, primarily if we focus on the Roma. Roma must point out the problem and society must help them solve the problem through political will; it is necessary to devictimize the victims, and punish the users (especially in the field of buyin sexual services); ensure compensation for victims of human trafficking; all types of education are needed: sectoral/ intersectoral/ cross-border and continuous; provide financial resources for the work of CSOs on this problem; ensure sufficient human resources at all levels, including institutional ones; regional cooperation is essential and needs to be (again) established; foreign workers, migrants/asylum seekers as potential victims of human trafficking further complicate the problem.