The largest number of minor victims of human trafficking in Montenegro are from the Roma and Egyptian community, and they are mostly minors, said yesterday the Director of the Directorate for International Cooperation, European Integration and Projects in the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MUP) Tijana Šuković.
"The largest number of identified victims, when it comes to the domicile population, comes from the community of Roma and Egyptians, where the victims were minors. Therefore, 14 victims of human trafficking have been identified, 11 are female and three are male," Šuković said during the session of the Committee for Gender Equality of the Parliament of Montenegro.
She also emphasized that the Police Administration of Montenegro filed several criminal charges for illegal begging, as well as for entering into an illegal marriage.
According to Šuković, 2024 is the last year of implementation of the Action Plan for the Implementation of the Strategy for Combating Human Trafficking.
"The document was prepared, not only in the way that the bearers of the activities were determined, but also in accordance with the method of adopting strategic documents and with a certain budget that was determined for the implementation of the action plan in question in the amount of 657.680 euros, of which the projected consumption of funds from the budget in the amount of 378.050 euros", said Šuković.
She said that without a multi-sector approach "there is no improvement in the fight against such a phenomenon" and added that the MUP is not "the only department that cooperates with civil society organizations".
She emphasized that Montenegro, in the area of victim protection, has made a significant step forward and that, after several years, a state shelter for children who are victims of human trafficking has been established.
MP Vladimir Bakrač asked how the fight against human trafficking would be implemented through educational institutions.
Šuković replied that they had been trying for a long time to find a model "so that children's education is not only at the level of sporadic trainings that are implemented by non-governmental organizations". She pointed out that they tried to do this through the subject "Civic Education".
The president of the Committee for Gender Equality, Jelenka Andrić, stated that the exploitation of children must be prevented.
"The education system must have a clear and strong response to this type of exploitation of children. I am glad that interdepartmental cooperation finally took place, and I believe that this is the only way we can change minds. We've had enough of pleonasms. The time has come to call whoever is a criminal a criminal. To the one who is a thief, he is a thief. To the one who exploits children, he is a non-human," Andrić concluded.
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