Photo: Freepik.com, flower grows from asphalt

Photo: Vranjski plus

Youth group of the Vranje theatre performed a segment of the play “Koštana”, written by Borisav Stanković and directed by Dragan Živković Durget. The performed segment vividly describes forced marriage through a tragic fate of the main female character who is married off against her will. Performance was organized by the Local Anti-Trafficking Team of the City of Vranje in partnership with the NGO Atina, and in cooperation with the theatre “Bora Stanković”.

A threat is violence in itself, and it must be treated that way. It is also necessary to develop society consciousness that violence is unacceptable, including the social responsibility of reporting it. Children should be spoken to on these topics as early as elementary school, especially boys, who should be ‘equally repelled by rape as by cannibalism’.

Danas: A third of human trafficking victims are recruited online

Visual: Bojan Milojević

Danas: How prevalent is labor exploitation in Europe during COVID-19 pandemic?

Photograph:  EPA-EFE/ JUSTIN LANE

An increasing number of people are losing their jobs, and the existing practices of workers' abuse in certain industries place labor exploitation at the forefront.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, organization Atina has, with the support of the Council of Europe, been particularly focused on the prevention of labor exploitation in the context of human trafficking. 

Andrijana Radoičić Nedeljković: Victims need safety, security, and certainty

Photograph: Piroshki photography

The hidden form of labor exploitation: domestic servitude during COVID-19

Illustration: https://umdgenderandglobalization.wordpress.com/

The pandemic had unforeseen impacts in many countries and different groups of people experience it differently. One of the most impacted groups were domestic workers, especially those who are being exploited in domestic servitude.

More than 30 million people are currently exploited in labor; children are also affected by this phenomenon, and the most common type of labor exploitation is that of children living and working on the streets, said the Prosecutor of the State Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sena Uzunović, at the Specialized Mentoring Session for Representatives of Local Teams implemented by Citizens’ Association Atina in five cities of the Republic of Serbia - Šabac, Niš, Vranje, Sremska Mitrovica and Subotica.

Exploited workers in Europe’s slaughterhouses

Photograph: https://www.canva.com/

Meat factories in Europe have been exposed as one of the most infections hotspots for COVID-19. Researchers, journalists, and activists are concerned that this is related to exploitative working conditions, which were made worse by the pandemic. Inadequate housing and low wages in the leading European meat producing countries, such as Germany, are the likeliest explanation for the outbreaks.