I know what I got myself into, now the only thing left for me is to scream inside myself, because there is no way out, at least at the moment, Dragana (26), who has been a victim of prostitution since she was nineteen, told Radio Free Europe (RSE).
How effective are the institutions of the system in protecting girls like Dragana?
Montenegro is in the second group of the list of countries under surveillance, according to the report of the State Department on human trafficking for 2020, which means that the Government of Montenegro does not meet the minimum standards for the elimination of human trafficking, but makes significant efforts in that direction.
When asked how it all started, Dragana says that she naively accepted her friend's offer to work as a hostess in one of the clubs on the Montenegrin coast.
"I was looking for a job during the summer season. My friend at the time told me that there was another job in the club where she started working," Dragana begins her story.
As she says, at first she worked as a hostess, and then one evening the manager of the club asked her to visit a couple of guests (foreigners), to flirt with them a little, so that they would spend some more money.
"I can't claim that it's true, but I think something was poured into my drink that evening, because after talking with the guests, I remember waking up in bed with a man who could have been my father based on his age." continues Dragana.
A child from a poor family, the desire to earn money for schooling, naivety and the belief that it was a job for one summer, dragged Dragana into, as she says, a tunnel with no light at the end:
"I read that people who survive trauma of this kind can react by continuing to work and function in the environment where the trauma occurred. That's the only way I manage to explain to myself how it is possible that I continued to work there all summer. I'm working today because they're blackmailing me, because they have my photos, videos, only today we're not in the club anymore, today we're working by invitation. Also, I can't even imagine how the environment would react if they found out."
Why didn't she report?
When asked why she never reported anything, Dragana says that she tried a couple of times, but that the people from that "business" are so connected, that they allegedly have contacts in the police, who protect the main man, who "leads" them:
"There is no longer any attempt to register, because it is known that there is no situation in which my side wins. They have been building this network for years, so they are not afraid of anyone or anything. In the first summer, I was beaten because I only mentioned what was happening to a girl, so that at least she would escape in time".
Dragana's family does not know what she does, they say that her mother asked her questions a couple of times, but gave up after her answers. Now she lives alone, "so that the family doesn't go through hell."
"How can I look my mother in the eye and talk about what is happening in my life, when I know that apart from me, she will also be destroyed if she tries to report the situation," said Dragana.
Who are all the clients?
As he says, the clients are of different profiles, from foreigners to Montenegrin citizens and citizens of the countries of the region. According to him, the people from the public life of Montenegro are another reason why he is afraid to report the situation in which he finds himself.
"These are serious people, some of them more than well known to the general public. And then it's my job to call them all kinds of names in the middle of the sea during intercourse, because it's their fetish. Everything was there for all these years", explains Dragana, describing some of the explicit requests of the clients.
She adds that among her clients were politicians, high-ranking former and current state and local officials, criminals, and even foreign investors.
"As far as clients are concerned, there is everything. From some kind of foreign investors, to domestic politicians, both local and national. Once I was forced to stay for a couple of days with a criminal in Croatia, on a yacht. At one point the police also approached the yacht, my hope of being saved was dashed when I saw them greeting each other. I no longer fear for my life at all, I don't care anymore", says Dragana.
She doesn't get all the money she earns, but only a part of it, and sometimes she doesn't get money, but gifts:
"It might sound harsh, but I don't know what my price is, because it's not my job. I know that for all of us the prices range from 400 to 1.000 euros per hour, it depends on who it is. We see part of it. My duty is to take the envelope with the money to the boss. More often we receive gifts in the form of clothing, jewelry and the like, than money, and that's because of work, to look better, it's not for us."
Physical violence was more present in the beginning, when Dragana "resisted" the demands of those who held her in the clutches of prostitution.
“There are clients who enjoy beating up the girls they hire. It once happened that a client complained that I wasn't good enough, so my boss 'charged' me for the mistake. After that, I was bruised, then they were angry that I couldn't work like that", explains Dragana.
'Triple Alliance'
Ljiljana Raičević, executive director of the Safe Women's House, testifies to the links between crime and individuals from the institutions of the system, who says that there is a "triple alliance" in Montenegro.
"Police, judiciary and prosecutor's office, in cooperation with criminals, for whom selling girls for sexual exploitation was often an incidental but very profitable business. The one who had five to ten girls for sexual services was a rich man," Raičević told RSE.
Since 2000, the Safe Women's House has had a shelter for trafficked women and girls, which existed for five years.
"In those five years, over 150 people who were arrested during raids stayed there, or they fled on their own, or they called us on the phone and we provided them with safe transportation to the shelter," says Raičević.
She says that prostitution also takes place in hotels, bars, and cafes in Montenegro. As he states, these are mostly girls from Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Croatia and southern Serbia.
"Girls are employed through advertisements, with mandatory probationary work, then they are offered or forced to sexual services, and if they do not agree, with blackmail and intimidation, they are kicked out, without pay and often without documents. The bosses never report all the girls, and the inspection doesn't check," says Raičević.
The most difficult form of prostitution to control is yachting prostitution, says Raičević, adding that the Montenegrin coast is "fertile ground for trafficking, because it is easy to get to Montenegro":
"Girls come to be anime ladies, board a yacht in one port, wake up in another country without knowing it. They continue their work often under duress. Russian, Belarusian, Ukrainian women come by plane, rich Russians order them for their parties, stay for a few days and leave. A big part of the money is taken by the pimp".
Raičević says that he does not know of a single prosecuted case.
Institutions without answers
RSE sent questions to the Higher State Prosecutor's Office in Podgorica, the Supreme Court of Montenegro, the Department for Combating Human Trafficking at the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Police Directorate.
In addition to the requested data on the number of victims and cases of sexual exploitation, we also asked if a case was recorded in which a member of the police, prosecutor's office or the judiciary played a role in the commission of the crime.
We were also interested in what was done about the recommendations from the US State Department's report on human trafficking for 2018, the main one of which was that "better investigations, prosecutions and trials of traffickers, including accomplices among officials, in human trafficking" are needed. .
In that report, it is stated that "the Government of Montenegro does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of human trafficking and that for the fifth year in a row it has not convicted a single person for human trafficking, nor has it filed a single indictment for this criminal offense."
We have not received answers to the questions until the publication of the text.
In the latest State Department report from June 2020, it is stated that "The government has not reported any investigations, prosecutions or convictions against its officials who participated in the commission of criminal offenses in the sphere of human trafficking."
It is further stated that the actions of the police did not result in investigations related to human trafficking.
"Law enforcement raided coffee shops, night clubs, places where sexual services are sold, business escort agencies..., but these raids did not result in investigations related to human trafficking during 2019 or 2020"
It is added that human traffickers are mostly men between the ages of 25 and 49 and are also members of organized criminal groups operating in the Western Balkans.
According to the data from this report, the executive authorities investigated four cases of human trafficking. Indictments were brought against five people, and the courts handed down a guilty verdict for one human trafficker, for forced begging. Two people were released.
It is not stated whether there are victims of sexual exploitation among these cases.
And in the Information of the Government of Montenegro on the achieved results in the fight against human trafficking from July 2020, it is stated that significant results have been achieved because since the beginning of the year, the team for identifying victims of human trafficking has realized six cases.
None of them are from the field of sexual exploitation.
In the Criminal Code of Montenegro, Article 444, a prison sentence of one to ten years is provided for those who commit the criminal offense of human trafficking.
Those who use the services of a person who is known to be a victim of human trafficking, expect a prison sentence of six months to five years, and if it is a minor, then a prison sentence of three to fifteen years is foreseen.
Prostitution is a misdemeanor under the Law on Public Order and Peace, which means that it is not subject to criminal liability.
*In order to protect the victim, the real name has not been used
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