Montenegro has intensified activities to implement reforms in the fight against human trafficking and a stronger response to that problem, announced the head of the Department for the fight against human trafficking in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Tijana Šuković.
The Montenegrin delegation, with the support of the OSCE Mission, participated two days ago in the high-level conference of the Alliance in the fight against human trafficking, which was attended by more than 800 participants from the OSCE region and beyond in Vienna.
The OSCE Mission said that in addition to Šuković, the Montenegrin delegation included the prosecutor in the Higher State Prosecutor's Office, Danka Ivanović Đerić, and the independent advisor in the Supreme Court, Bojana Bandović.
Šuković pointed out at the conference that Montenegro has intensified activities to implement reforms in the fight against human trafficking and a stronger response to that problem, both from the criminal and legal aspect, as well as in terms of a proactive and preventive approach at all levels.
"Montenegro remains committed to acting on a bilateral and multilateral level in the fight against human trafficking, as an active and reliable partner in order to achieve the best possible quality of the common future," Šuković said.
She added that in three years, ten trainings were organized for 149 police officers, social workers and representatives of non-governmental organizations with the support of the OSCE Mission, which were based on the Mission's Guidelines for interviewing victims of human trafficking, with a standardized set of questions.
OSCE Secretary General Helga Marija Schmid said that preventing human trafficking is the best way to truly protect vulnerable groups and to deprive traffickers of the illegal profits generated by crime.
"If we want to defeat human trafficking, and this must undoubtedly be our common ambition, effective approaches to prevention must be the foundation on which our efforts in the fight against human trafficking are based," emphasized Šmid.
The OSCE Special Representative and Coordinator for the fight against human trafficking Kari Johnston said that human traffickers prey on the marginalized and the most vulnerable.
She pointed to a new trend where the demographic profile of trafficking victims is also expanding, in step with digital development.
"We are witnessing the evolution of human trafficking where it intersects or even merges with other crimes such as drugs, theft or fraud, where the perpetrators are disguised behind the victims," said Johnston.
At the conference, OSCE leaders and anti-trafficking experts called on the 57 participating countries to go a step further than awareness campaigns.
"Underscoring the urgent need to review prevention efforts as we face new human trafficking tactics," the statement said.
During the panel and separate sessions, participants discussed concrete ways to reshape the prevention of human trafficking.
The OSCE Mission in Montenegro said that they will continue to support national institutions in the fight against human trafficking, adapting their cooperation and activities to the conclusions of the conference.
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