Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...
is primarily a source for Bosnian women and girls who are subjected to
trafficking in persons
Human trafficking is the trade of humans for the purpose of forced labour, sexual slavery, or commercial sexual exploitation for the trafficker or others. This may encompass providing a spouse in the context of forced marriage, or the extract ...
, specifically
forced prostitution
Forced prostitution, also known as involuntary prostitution or compulsory prostitution, is prostitution or sexual slavery that takes place as a result of coercion by a third party. The terms "forced prostitution" or "enforced prostitution" ap ...
within the country, though it is also a destination and transit country for foreign women and girls in
forced prostitution
Forced prostitution, also known as involuntary prostitution or compulsory prostitution, is prostitution or sexual slavery that takes place as a result of coercion by a third party. The terms "forced prostitution" or "enforced prostitution" ap ...
in Bosnia and
Western Europe
Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context.
The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...
. There were four identified victims from
Serbia
Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...
in 2009. Most trafficked women entered the country through Serbia or
Montenegro
)
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, capital = Podgorica
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. There were reports that some girls, particularly
Roma
Roma or ROMA may refer to:
Places Australia
* Roma, Queensland, a town
** Roma Airport
** Roma Courthouse
** Electoral district of Roma, defunct
** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council
*Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...
, were trafficked, using
forced marriage
Forced marriage is a marriage in which one or more of the parties is married without their consent or against their will. A marriage can also become a forced marriage even if both parties enter with full consent if one or both are later force ...
, for the purpose of
involuntary domestic servitude, and that Roma boys and girls were subjected to forced
begging
Begging (also panhandling) is the practice of imploring others to grant a favor, often a gift of money, with little or no expectation of reciprocation. A person doing such is called a beggar or panhandler. Beggars may operate in public place ...
by organized groups. There was one case involving Bosnian males recruited for labor and subjected to
coercive
Coercion () is compelling a party to act in an involuntary manner by the use of threats, including threats to use force against a party. It involves a set of forceful actions which violate the free will of an individual in order to induce a desi ...
conditions in
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...
in 2009.
NGO
A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...
's report that traffickers frequently use intermediaries to bring clients to private apartments, motels, and gas stations where victims are held.
The Government of Bosnia fully complies with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking. The government made clear progress in its anti-trafficking
law enforcement
Law enforcement is the activity of some members of government who act in an organized manner to enforce the law by discovering, deterring, rehabilitating, or punishing people who violate the rules and norms governing that society. The term en ...
efforts during the reporting period by significantly reducing its use of
suspended sentence
A suspended sentence is a sentence on conviction for a criminal offence, the serving of which the court orders to be deferred in order to allow the defendant to perform a period of probation. If the defendant does not break the law during that ...
s and imposing stronger penalties for convicted
traffickers. The government employed proactive systematic procedures to identify potential victims throughout the reporting period, registering a greater number of trafficking victims, and referred them to
NGO
A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...
service providers which it funded.
[
The U.S. State Department's ]Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons
The Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (J/TIP) is an agency within the United States Department of State charged with investigating and creating programs to prevent human trafficking both within the United States and internation ...
placed the country in "Tier 2" in 2017.[ ] Although the government claimed compliance, the report noted the inability to fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but that it is making significant efforts to do so.
Prosecution
The Government of Bosnia made significant progress in its anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts over the last year, delivering one of the highest sentences
''The Four Books of Sentences'' (''Libri Quattuor Sententiarum'') is a book of theology written by Peter Lombard in the 12th century. It is a systematic compilation of theology, written around 1150; it derives its name from the ''sententiae'' o ...
for trafficking ever prosecuted in Bosnia. The government also reduced its use of suspended sentence
A suspended sentence is a sentence on conviction for a criminal offence, the serving of which the court orders to be deferred in order to allow the defendant to perform a period of probation. If the defendant does not break the law during that ...
s and increased penalties for convicted traffickers. The Government of Bosnia prohibits trafficking for sexual
Sex is the biological distinction of an organism between male and female.
Sex or SEX may also refer to:
Biology and behaviour
*Animal sexual behaviour
**Copulation (zoology)
**Human sexual activity
**Non-penetrative sex, or sexual outercourse
** ...
and labor exploitation
Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, violence including death, or other forms of e ...
through Article 186 of its criminal code
A criminal code (or penal code) is a document that compiles all, or a significant amount of a particular jurisdiction's criminal law. Typically a criminal code will contain offences that are recognised in the jurisdiction, penalties that migh ...
, which prescribes penalties of up to 10 years’ imprisonment. These penalties are sufficiently stringent and commensurate with those prescribed for other serious crimes, such as rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ag ...
. The government amended its criminal code in 2009, setting a three-year minimum sentence for trafficking and increasing the minimum penalty for officials involved in trafficking. The national government successfully prosecuted a landmark trafficking case involving a high-level trafficker in 2009, sentencing the ringleader to 12 years in prison, fining him $14,286, and ordering the forfeiture of over $204,600 in assets.
In 2009, the national government investigated 14 suspected trafficking cases, and local authorities investigated 21 such cases. The national government prosecuted
A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the case in a criminal trial ...
three cases involving 12 suspected trafficking offenders in 2009, and convicted 11 trafficking offenders; sentences for 11 convicted traffickers in two cases ranged from five months to 12 years’ imprisonment. Six of these sentences were over three years in length, and one suspect was acquitted
In common law jurisdictions, an acquittal certifies that the accused is free from the charge of an offense, as far as criminal law is concerned. The finality of an acquittal is dependent on the jurisdiction. In some countries, such as the ...
. Courts in the Federation prosecuted seven cases, convicted 11 traffickers, and sentenced nine of them to one to three years. Finally, in the Republika Srpska, authorities reportedly prosecuted nine trafficking cases and convicted five trafficking offenders, resulting in sentences ranging from one to two years. State and local-level courts suspended sentences for two convicted traffickers in 2009, a notable decrease from 14 suspended sentences in 2008.[
Under Bosnian ]law
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...
, many convicted offenders are eligible for weekend furlough
A furlough (; from nl, verlof, "leave of absence") is a temporary leave of employees due to special needs of a company or employer, which may be due to economic conditions of a specific employer or in society as a whole. These furloughs may be s ...
s from prison; thus, some convicted traffickers in 2009 may have been released on weekends, posing a potential risk to their victims. There were continued anecdotal reports of police
The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...
and other officials’ facilitation of trafficking, including by willfully ignoring or actively protecting traffickers or exploiters of trafficking victims in return for payoffs. In March 2010, the government arrested 16 suspects, including the Srebrenica
Srebrenica ( sr-cyrl, Сребреница, ) is a town and municipality located in the easternmost part of Republika Srpska, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is a small mountain town, with its main industry being Salt mine, salt mining a ...
deputy mayor, local religious officials, school officials, and police officer
A police officer (also called a policeman and, less commonly, a policewoman) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, "police officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of the ...
s for their alleged involvement in the trafficking and forced prostitution of a Roma girl. The government reported all suspects were subsequently released two days after the arrests, citing lack of sufficient evidence to detain them. The State Minister of Security was also interrogated
Interrogation (also called questioning) is interviewing as commonly employed by law enforcement officers, military personnel, intelligence agencies, organized crime syndicates, and terrorist organizations with the goal of eliciting useful informa ...
as a suspect. The investigation remains ongoing. Two local officials under investigation by the State Prosecutor for their December 2007 involvement in forced prostitution of three children were released from custody on February 12, 2009. Trial proceedings are still ongoing. The government has yet to convict any government official
An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority, (either their own or that of their ...
s for trafficking-related complicity.[
Prosecution is crucial in addressing the human trafficking problem in Bosnia and Herzegovina because, without it, the problem degenerates to a cycle. In this condition, the victims gets repatriated to their home countries only to be retrafficked, creating what some calls as repatriation factory.
]
Protection
The Government of Bosnia made progress in identifying and protecting victims of trafficking in 2009. The government continued to provide sufficient funding to six local NGOs that provided shelter and medical
Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care practic ...
and psychological
Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between t ...
assistance to foreign and domestic victims during the reporting period. In 2009, the government provided $32,000 for the care of domestic victims and $71,400 for care to foreign victims of trafficking, including repatriation
Repatriation is the process of returning a thing or a person to its country of origin or citizenship. The term may refer to non-human entities, such as converting a foreign currency into the currency of one's own country, as well as to the pro ...
assistance. The government employed systematic proactive procedures for identifying and referring both foreign and domestic victims to NGO service providers, and registered 46 trafficking victims in 2009, an increase from 29 identified in 2008. Government-funded NGOs provided shelter to 18 victims during the reporting period; the remaining 28 victims received services from NGOs on an outpatient
A patient is any recipient of health care services that are performed by healthcare professionals. The patient is most often ill or injured and in need of treatment by a physician, nurse, optometrist, dentist, veterinarian, or other health care ...
basis. The government encouraged victims to assist in the investigation and prosecution of traffickers, and relied on the voluntary cooperation of victims as witnesses in all of its prosecutions in 2009. However, a 2009 report issued by Dr. Gilly McKenzie of the Interpol
The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO; french: link=no, Organisation internationale de police criminelle), commonly known as Interpol ( , ), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and cri ...
Organized Crime
Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...
Division, reported witness protection
Witness protection is security provided to a threatened person providing testimonial evidence to the justice system, including defendants and other clients, before, during, and after a trial, usually by police. While a witness may only require p ...
in Bosnia remained inadequate.[
The government provided legal alternatives to the removal of foreign trafficking victims to countries where they face hardship or retribution through the provision of short- and long-term ]residence
A residence is a place (normally a building) used as a home or dwelling, where people reside.
Residence may more specifically refer to:
* Domicile (law), a legal term for residence
* Habitual residence, a civil law term dealing with the status ...
permits. In 2009, the government provided six victims with residence permits, an increase from the two permits the previous year. Police and border officers continued to employ systematic procedures for identifying trafficking victims among vulnerable populations, and the government continued to train its consular officials abroad on ways to identify potential trafficking victims among persons applying for Bosnian visas
Visa most commonly refers to:
*Visa Inc., a US multinational financial and payment cards company
** Visa Debit card issued by the above company
** Visa Electron, a debit card
** Visa Plus, an interbank network
*Travel visa, a document that allows ...
. The government ensured that identified victims were not penalized for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of their being trafficked; however, unidentified victims were likely inadvertently deported
Deportation is the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. The term ''expulsion'' is often used as a synonym for deportation, though expulsion is more often used in the context of international law, while deportation ...
or occasionally prosecuted for immigration or other violations. The government failed to protect the confidentiality of an alleged underage sex trafficking victim during the reporting period by allowing some media
Media may refer to:
Communication
* Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data
** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising
** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass el ...
to disclose her full name and photo. While the government reported that authorities referred the victim to one of its shelters for care, the disclosure of her identity likely hampered the government's ability to adequately protect her.[
]
Prevention
Prevention initiatives undertaken by the government is based on the implementation of the 2016-2019 national anti-trafficking plan, which prescribed specific efforts to identify trafficking incidents and the protection of victims in cooperation with the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and NGOs. For instance, the Office of the State Coordinator coordinates and supervises an NGO-funded comprehensive campaign targeted at young people seeking employment abroad that includes TV spots, billboards, and pamphlets. The government continued to fund an NGO's operation of an anti-trafficking hotline
A hotline is a point-to-point communications link in which a call is automatically directed to the preselected destination without any additional action by the user when the end instrument goes off-hook. An example would be a phone that automat ...
in 2009. The partnership with the OSCE also involved the training of prosecutors and judges to augment practical and theoretical knowledge on the elements of human trafficking as a crime as well as their role in addressing issues of victim and witness support within the judicial system. OSCE, for its part, is focused on working with domestic institutions and international partners to enhance the legislative and policy framework for human trafficking in the country.
The Bosnia and Herzegovina government is also continuing to give specialized trafficking awareness training to Bosnian troops before their deployment on international peace
World peace, or peace on Earth, is the concept of an ideal state of peace within and among all people and nations on Planet Earth. Different cultures, religions, philosophies, and organizations have varying concepts on how such a state would ...
keeping missions. In partnership with the Norwegian government
The politics of Norway take place in the framework of a parliamentary, representative democratic constitutional monarchy. Executive power is exercised by the Council of State, the cabinet, led by the prime minister of Norway. Legislative power is ...
, it developed a manual for police, prosecutors, social centers and health care
Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered by health profe ...
officials on preventing child trafficking. The government did not conduct any awareness campaign
Consciousness raising (also called awareness raising) is a form of activism popularized by United States feminists in the late 1960s. It often takes the form of a group of people attempting to focus the attention of a wider group on some cause o ...
s specifically aimed at reducing demand for commercial sex acts
Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-pene ...
or forced labor.
See also
*Human rights
Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...
in Bosnia and Herzegovina
*Human trafficking in Europe Human trafficking in Europe is a regional phenomenon of the wider practice of trade in humans for the purposes of various forms of coercive exploitation. Human trafficking has existed for centuries all over the world, and follows from the earlier pr ...
References
{{Europe topic, Human trafficking in