Photo: UNODC

On the occasion of July 30, World Day against Trafficking in Persons, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has been publishing stories of people working on the frontline to end human trafficking. Our colleague Jelena Hrnjak, Programme Manager of NGO Atina, took part in the campaign and shared her thoughts and insights.  

My job in Atina is to make sure that our long-term social inclusion programme for trafficking survivors functions smoothly.

Nina and Lisa volunteer in the “Schüler Helfen Leben” organization. They are collecting donations for young people in Southeastern Europe. Today, they are also producing a podcast in German language. Lisa, a girl from Germany, says that “young people in Serbia have no prospects”.

Photograph: pixabay.com

Violence against women is on the rise in Serbia, according to data from the Safe House Belgrade, while the Autonomous Women's Center says that almost every third perpetrator repeats the act whose direct or indirect victims in a number of cases are children.

In the period from January to June, 14 women were killed in domestic violence, which is five more than in the same period last year, Vesna Stanojević coordinator of the Safe House said to “Vesti”.

Dear all,

It is a pleasure to invite you to join us on July 10, at 11AM (GMT +02:00) in our LIVE Facebook discussion entitled 'What's next?' on the occasion of the World Population Day.

ATINA at the SIPRU online conference on “Poverty during the COVID 19 pandemic and in post-crises period in the Republic of Serbia” 

Photograph: Piroshki Photography

The arrest of a Center for Social Work employee from Vranje, who tried to assist an Albanian citizen in adopting a girl from Serbia with falsified documents, once again drew public attention to an increasing number of cases of human trafficking in Serbia. According to Jelena Hrnjak from Citizens Association Atina for combating human trafficking, 60 percent of human trafficking victims in Serbia are children.

Photo: Dragan Todorović

“An arrest for human trafficking and mediation in prostitution” - not a month goes by without newspaper columns being filled with articles about the exploitation of people, workers, women for the purpose of human trafficking. “Blic” has been exploring this phenomenon, who the most common victims are, but also how we can deal with it as a society.

(Budikarakter.rs, photo: Dragan Todorović)

Jelena Hrnjak: Human Trafficking Victims are the Bravest Women of All

Some of the bravest women and girls I have ever met were human trafficking victims. Those were the women who boldly stood in a courtroom and put traffickers in their place, resisting the system that crucified them with social attitudes and expectations. That boldness and bravery is what drives me, and should drive us all.  

Photo: Profimedia