Despite the long-standing existence of the Office for Combating Human Trafficking, strategic documents and laws that are generally considered to be of high quality, last year, in the State Department's Report on Human Trafficking, Montenegro was placed in the second group with the indication "under supervision" ", and she kept that status this year as well.
"Montenegro is qualified as a country of source, transit and destination of trafficking in men, women and children for forced labor and sex," the State Department's report on human trafficking states.
"Our only problem is the small number of identified victims," Zoran Ulama, head of the National Office for Combating Human Trafficking, told Radio Free Europe that a lot has been done so far, and that the country is ready and has the necessary capacities.
"However, all our efforts are unfortunately overshadowed by the small number of identified victims of human trafficking," Ulama said.
The director of the Safe Women's House, Ljiljana Raičević, expresses her view of the reasons for the lack of results for RSE.
"The problem is that the law enforcement agencies and the Office for Combating Human Trafficking are not doing their job well enough. It's as if they're hiding under the carpet a problem that shouldn't be hidden because it's one of the worst human rights violations the world has known," she said. Raičević.
The State Department Report states that the victims of sex trafficking are primarily women and girls from Montenegro and neighboring Balkan countries, and that the victims of forced begging are mainly Roma and Albanian children.
Fana Delija from the Center for Roma Initiatives tells RFE/RL that this is a big problem during the summer during the tourist season.
"Then there are children who come 'from the side' to beg and that is a form of organized crime. These are children who, together with their parents, live by begging. It is unacceptable for children to be on the street and beg. The state should find ways to protect the families," Delia said.
The head of the National Office for Combating Human Trafficking, Zoran Ulama, believes that Montenegro will be better positioned in the next State Department report.
"I am sure of that. In fact, I expected it already this year. Among our priorities is the strengthening of the professional capacities of representatives of state institutions. I believe that by further intensifying activities, together with the Police Directorate, we can make progress very quickly," claimed Ulama.
The problem, according to the State Department Report, is the fact that in Montenegro, for four years, not a single smuggler has been convicted under the Law against People Smuggling.
Ljiljana Raičević from the Safe Women's House says that this is about the connection between trafficking and state authorities, and above all the police.
"Very often, the police are involved in such cases. The fact that these are crimes that are difficult to prove is also a problem," said Raičević, who emphasizes that among the most serious problems in the field of human trafficking that are difficult to prove are arranged marriages, which are particularly prevalent. in the Roma and Egyptian population.
Fana Delija from the Center for Roma Initiatives believes that a serious obstacle to a more effective fight against this phenomenon is the law.
"Our NGO dealt with a case in which a family 'contracted' a 15-year-old girl to a man who was already married and had three children. For that, they took, as far as we know, five thousand euros and a van, and the police cannot do that qualifies as human trafficking because they demand that the perpetrators themselves confirm the act. Well, who will tell them - yes, we did it," Delija wonders.
Bonus video:
