Jeffrey Taylor-Kantz

HONORS 232 B
5-13-2018
Human Trafficking in Serbia Report
Question 1.
Which country have you studied?
Serbia

Question 2.
Provide an overview that explains whether this country is a source, transit, and/or
destination for international human trafficking, and/or whether
trafficking/enslavement are largely internal within the country (e.g. from rural to
urban areas, or local enslavement on farms or in domestic servitude, etc.).
Explain and substantiate your response.
According to the U.S. State Department’s Trafficking in Persons Report from
2017, “Serbia is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children
subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor, including domestic servitude and forced
begging” (1).
Serbia is currently placed on the Tier 2 Watch List according to the U.S. State
Department’s Trafficking in Persons report. Serbia has had this classification since
2016. The report recognizes that Serbia is making significant efforts by “operationalizing
a permanent human smuggling and trafficking law enforcement taskforce,” as well as
other efforts in law enforcement and the prosecution process. However, because the
Serbian government did not increase efforts from the previous reporting period, it was
moved from Tier 2 to the Tier 2 Watch list (1).
According to the Council of Europe’s Group of Experts on Action Against
Trafficking in Human Beings’ (GRETA) 2018 report on Serbia, there were 296 victims of
human trafficking identified in Serbia from 2013-2016. The majority (130) of the victims
were men, while 72 were women and 94 were children (2). According to the GRETA
report, the majority of recent trafficking cases were forced into labor. However,
According to the Trafficking in Persons Report, 49 victims were identified by the
government over the reporting period, with the majority of them being forced into sex
work (1). According to the GRETA report, the vast majority of identified victims were
Serbian nationals, indicating that internal human trafficking is the primary form of
trafficking (2). However, according to both reports, both transnational and internal
trafficking are a significant issue in Serbia.

According to a 2009 report by the Organization for Security and Co-Operation in

Europe (OSCE) on combatting human trafficking in Serbia, prior to 2009, Serbia was
predominately a country of transit and temporary destination for foreign victims, and
was only a source country to a lesser extent. However, the report noted a recent trend
in the decreasing number of foreign victims (3). Supporting this, a Human Trafficking
Manual for Journalists published by the Serbian NGO ASTRA, and supported by the
Jeffrey Taylor-Kantz
HONORS 232 B
5-13-2018
Human Trafficking in Serbia Report
OSCE and their mission to Serbia, states that Serbia is now largely a source country,
but that the government had maintained an attitude that Serbia was solely a transit
country (4). By 2017, Serbia has cemented itself as primarily a source country with a
very significant amount of internal trafficking (2).

Question 3.
If this is a destination country and/or if there is internal human trafficking, which
forms of trafficking are common in this country? (If you think that there are no
forms of trafficking happening within this country, provide citations about that,
and some reasons why it is not happening. The reasons don't have to be proven,
but they must be plausible.)
Looking at the reported trafficking cases in the GRETA report and the Trafficking
in Persons Report, there are comparable amounts of forced labor and sex trafficking,
with moderately more labor trafficking cases identified than sex trafficking. There were
also reported cases of exploitation of begging and forced criminality. Nearly all of the
female victims identified were victims of sexual exploitation, and there were 5 cases of
forced marriage. There is also a very significant amount of child trafficking, with 94
cases identified between 2013 and 2016. These children were primarily victims of sex
trafficking, as well as lower amounts of forced begging, forced marriage, forced labor,
and forced criminality. According to this report, the great majority of victims found in
Serbia were Serbian nationals, indicating the predominance of internal trafficking. In
2013-2016, there were 13 identified victims of human trafficking from other countries.
There were 6 victims from Bosnia and Herzegovina, and one each from Afghanistan,
Albania, Pakistan, Nepal, Syria, “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”, and
Ukraine (2). The report also recognizes the significant increase in refugees and
migrants coming into Serbia along a route from conflict-torn regions in the Middle East
and Asia toward Western Europe. This raises concerns about the vulnerability of these
migrants, as well as the strain this has put on the Serbian government, leading to
diminished efforts by law enforcement to identify victims.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of International Labor Affairs, Roma
children are especially vulnerable to all forms of trafficking. However, the Bureau also
recognizes Serbia’s moderate advancement in its efforts to end the worst forms of child
labor. The Serbian government adopted the National Strategy for Roma Inclusion, with
the goal of improving the plight of the Roma population with efforts including enrolling
Roma children in preschool. However, this report states that the Serbian government
“lacks a national policy to combat child labor and both the Council for Combating
Trafficking in Human Beings and the National Council for Children’s Rights did not meet
during the reporting period” (5).

Question 4.
Jeffrey Taylor-Kantz
HONORS 232 B
5-13-2018
Human Trafficking in Serbia Report
If this is a source country, into which forms of human trafficking and into which
countries are citizens from this country commonly trafficked? (If you think that
there is little or no trafficking of people from this country internationally, provide
citations about that, and some reasons why it is not happening. The reasons
don't have to be proven, but they must be plausible.)
According to the Trafficking in Persons Report, Serbian women are trafficked by
Serbian criminal organizations to neighboring countries, particularly Austria and
Germany, and are subsequently subjected to forced sex work. Predominately male
Serbian nationals are subjected to forced labor in construction and other such labor-
intensive industries. Meanwhile, Serbian men that are forced to do labor and are not
kept internally, are moved to countries in Europe, including Azerbaijan, Slovenia, and
Russia, as well as the United Arab Emirates (1).

Question 5.
What are the current national laws against human trafficking in this country and
how have they been assessed by legal experts (e.g. by the U.N., the U.S. Dept of
State TIP Report, and/or the Protection Project)?
The legal definition of most forms of human trafficking and their punishments is
given in Article 388 of the Serbian Criminal Code which was written in 2005 and
implemented at the start of 2006. It reads:
“1. Whoever by force or threat, deception or maintaining deception, abuse of authority,
trust, dependency relationship, difficult circumstances of another, retaining identity
papers or by 127 giving or accepting money or other benefit, recruits, transports,
transfers, sells, buys, acts as intermediary in sale, hides or holds another person with
intent to exploit such person’s labour, forced labour, commission of offences,
prostitution, mendacity, pornography, removal of organs or body parts or service in
armed conflicts, shall be punished by imprisonment of two to twelve years.
2. When the offence specified in paragraph 1 of this Article is committed against a
minor, the offender shall be punished by the penalty prescribed for that offence even if
there was no use of force, threat or any of the other mentioned methods of perpetration.
3. If the offence specified in paragraph 1 of this Article is committed against a minor, the
offender shall be punished by imprisonment of minimum three years.
4. If the offence specified in paragraphs 1 and 3 of this Article resulted in grave bodily
injury of a person, the offender shall be punished by imprisonment of three to fifteen
years.
5. If the offence specified in paragraphs 1 and 3 of this Article resulted in death of one
or more persons, the offender shall be punished by imprisonment of minimum ten years.
Jeffrey Taylor-Kantz
HONORS 232 B
5-13-2018
Human Trafficking in Serbia Report
6. Whoever habitually engages in offences specified in paragraphs 1 and 3 of this
Article or if the offence is committed by an organized group, shall be punished by
imprisonment of minimum five years.
7. If the offence referred to in paragraphs 1 through 3 hereof has been perpetrated by
an organized crime group, the offender shall be punished with imprisonment of
minimum ten years.
8. Whoever knows or should have known that a person is a victim of human trafficking
and abuses their position or allows another to abuse their position for the purpose of
exploitation referred to in paragraph 1 hereof shall be punished with imprisonment of six
months to five years.
9. If the offence referred to in paragraph 8 hereof has been committed against a person
whom the offender knows or should have known is a minor, the offender shall be
punished with imprisonment of one year to eight years.
10. Person’s consent to be exploited or held in slavery or servitude referred to in
paragraph 1 hereof shall not prejudice the existence of the criminal offence stipulated
under paragraphs 1, 2, and 6 hereof.” (6)

The last four paragraphs were added as amendments in 2009.

Article 389 defines and lays out the punishment for the trafficking of minors for
the purpose of fraudulent adoption. Article 390 of the Criminal Code serves to address
the issue of Holding in Slavery and Transportation of Enslaved Persons (5). Article 389
reads as follows:
“1. Whoever abducts a person not yet sixteen years of age for the purpose of adoption
contrary to laws in force, or whoever adopts such a person or mediates in such
adoption, or whoever for that purpose buys, sells or hands over another person under
sixteen years of age or transports such a person, provides accommodation or conceals
such a person, shall be punished by imprisonment of from one to five years.
2. Whoever habitually engages in activities referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article or if
the offence is committed by a group shall be punished by imprisonment of a minimum of
five years.” (6)
According to an ASTRA report monitoring and evaluating Serbian anti-trafficking
laws as of 2014 and 2015, this legislation shows very significant and earnest efforts to
criminalize human trafficking in a responsible way. The report praises article 388 saying
“Article 388 of the CC [Criminal Code] provides for the most exhaustive list of offences
thus far (ten paragraphs), mentioning nearly all types of human trafficking. To a great
extent this is in line with international standards” (7). The report points out the Criminal
Code’s inclusion of adoption trafficking in this criminalization even though such crimes
are not envisaged by either the UN or the Council of Europe. However, this crime is
covered by Article 389, and is not included in the definitions of human trafficking.
Jeffrey Taylor-Kantz
HONORS 232 B
5-13-2018
Human Trafficking in Serbia Report
Exploitation of minors for reasons other than adoption is a crime under Article 388 as a
trafficking crime. It also lauds the Criminal Code for not confusing human trafficking with
other categories of crimes such as migrant smuggling and people smuggling.
One way that the Serbian Criminal Code is not compliant with the Council of
Europe’s requirements is that it does not categorize trafficking crimes by public officials
or trafficking crimes that deliberately or negligently put the victim’s life in danger as
aggravated circumstances (7). The report chides the Criminal Code for not including
specific legal provisions regarding the non-punishment of victims of trafficking, however
it does cede that Article 14 paragraph 2 says there is no criminal offence without an
unlawful act or culpability, and that Article 21 says that an action taken under
“irresistible force” is not a criminal offence. Those two provide some protection for
victims but are not as optimal as specific provisions.
The report also says that the respect afforded to the rights of victims during trials
was only formal, and that both the government and NGOs were unsatisfied with the
amount of respect payed to victims’ rights. Trials were known to stop for all sorts of
reasons, including failure of the defendant to show up for court while the defendant was
in state custody. It also says that police investigators payed little respect to victims,
refusing to accept victims’ reports of being trafficked until an NGO intervened. After
victims were identified, the report chides the Serbian police by saying that “Essentially
there was no option for a victim not to collaborate, once she or he was identified” (7).
Prosecutors often did not inform a victim of their rights or any procedures available to
them because they expected NGOs or the state agency Centre for the Protection of
Trafficking Victims to do so.
According to the GRETA report, the Law on Employment of Foreigners was
adopted in 2014, which allows foreign victims of trafficking to be granted a work permit
for the duration of their residence permit. It was also reported that the Law on
Employment and Unemployment Insurance was amended so that temporary
employment agencies that offered jobs in other countries were legally responsible for
ensuring that job offers and working conditions conformed to the countries’ legislation
(2).

Question 6.
Which types of anti-trafficking efforts by which types of actors are evident in this
country? (along with a general summary, provide brief descriptions and URLs of
2-3 noteworthy examples)
NGOs:
ASTRA: ASTRA is a Serbian grassroots NGO dedicated to eradicating all forms of
human trafficking, especially in women and children. They aim to eliminate human
trafficking by “promoting a society free of all forms of exploitation, violence,
discrimination, and economic and social inequalities” (8). It serves as both a victim
service provider and an education and mobilization organization, with many awareness
Jeffrey Taylor-Kantz
HONORS 232 B
5-13-2018
Human Trafficking in Serbia Report
campaigns, as well as operating several victim hotlines. ASTRA also does a significant
amount of research because when it formed in 2000, human trafficking in Serbia was
not well understood nor studied by either the government or the public.
URL: https://www.astra.rs/en/
Atina Citizens Association for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings and All Forms of
Gender-Based Violence: Atina is a grassroots victim service provider that was formed in
2004 as a response to an influx in the movement of women in Serbia due to human
trafficking. As such, it is primarily concerned with the protection of women and children,
however it claims that it also helps men. It claims to try to provide long-term services to
men, women, children, young people, both Serbian citizens and foreigners, victims of
human trafficking, sexual and labor exploitation, as well as their families and close ones,
as they are secondary victims (9).

Question 7.
What are the main obstacles to anti-trafficking efforts within this country and/or
of this country’s citizens internationally?
The U.S. Trafficking in Persons Report recognizes the significant efforts of the
Serbian government to eliminate trafficking. It claims that the Serbian government
identified more victims than years previous and provided guidelines to prosecutors and
judges on non-penalization of trafficking victims. The government also developed and
distributed guidelines on recognizing indicators of trafficking and trained 630 first
responders on applying them. However, the report felt that efforts by the Serbian
government did not increase since the last reporting period and that the government did
not sufficiently provide protection for victims during criminal proceedings, which
exposed victims to intimidation and secondary trauma. The report also criticizes
Serbia’s lack of a formalized victim identification process and an outdated national
referral mechanism that hindered victim protection efforts. The report also claims that
Serbia did not the 2015-2016 national action plan and that it’s anti-trafficking council did
not convene. The influx of migrants and refugees into Serbia put a significant strain on
government resources and also added to the vulnerable population, so this slip in efforts
is extremely unfortunate, but not inexplicable (1). It seems clear that the main obstacles
of anti-trafficking efforts are the wide divide between the resources available and the
number of victims, as well as an insufficient legal framework for the protection of
victims.

Question 8.
Jeffrey Taylor-Kantz
HONORS 232 B
5-13-2018
Human Trafficking in Serbia Report
What sources did you use as the basis for this report? Paste a complete list of
references here.
(1) United States. Department of State. Office of the Under Secretary for Civilian
Security, Democracy and Human Rights. (June 2017). Trafficking in Persons
Report 2013. Retrieved from
<https://www.state.gov/documents/organization/271339.pdf>
(2) Council of Europe. GRETA: Group of Experts on Action Against Trafficking in
Human Beings. (29, January 2018). Report concerning the Implementation of the
Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings by
Serbia. Retrieved from < https://rm.coe.int/greta-2017-37-frg-srb-en/16807809fd>
(3) OSCE: Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe. (2009).
Combatting Trafficking in Human Beings in Serbia. Retrieved from
< https://www.osce.org/serbia/25183?download=true>
(4) ASTRA. OSCE: Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe. Human
Trafficking Manual for Journalists. (2008). Retrieved from <
https://www.osce.org/serbia/36212?download=true>
(5) “Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor - Serbia.” United States Department
of Labor. (12 December 2017). Retrieved from
<www.dol.gov/agencies/ilab/resources/reports/child-labor/serbia#_ENREF_5>
(6) Republic of Serbia. Criminal Code of the Republic of Serbia. (Updated December
2012). Retrieved from <
www.legislationline.org/.../action/.../id/.../Serbia_CC_2005_am2012_excerpts_en.
pdf>
(7) ASTRA. Monitoring and Evaluation of Anti-Trafficking Laws and Policies and
Their Implementation in the Republic of Serbia in 2014 and 2015. (April 2016).
Retrieved from
< http://www.eurcenter.net/images/Slike/Reports/monitoring%20report%20SRB-
ENG.pdf>
(8) “About ASTRA.” ASTRA. <https://www.astra.rs/en/about-astra/>
(9) “About us.” Atina Citizens Association for Combating Trafficking in Human
Beings and All Forms of Gender-Based Violence. < http://atina.org.rs/en/about-
us>