FIGHT AGAINST HUMAN TRAFFICKING IS THE PRIORITY OF THE SERBIAN GOVERNMENT

March 26, 2004 – (Oneworld.net – Serbia) Dragan Jo_i_, Minister of Interior in the Government of Serbia, announced yesterday, at the opening of the 6th Stability Pact Conference on Children Trafficking that the fight against human trafficking in the region will be one of the top priorities of the Government.

Jo_i_ said that the Government intends to establish the rule of law in the country, and that the fight against human trafficking should take a high place on the list of its priorities. He explained that this type of criminal activity is very dangerous for the state, having in mind that the same channels are also used for drugs and arms smuggling. Jo_i_ estimated that Serbia has achieved a lot in the field, but also that it is a problem that is almost impossible to eradicate completely.

Helga Konrad, the Chairperson of the Working Group on fight against children trafficking of the Stability Pact for SEE, said that the increase of the number of children victims of trafficking is a characteristic of the post-conflict societies, poor countries with organized crime. She said that about one million children are sold in the world, either into forced labour or sexual exploitation, and added that it’s impossible to determine the exact number, due to the lack of a united international database, but also because of the high mortality rate in that population.

Konrad said that the Stability Pact has good cooperation with the governments of Serbia and Montenegro, and called the Governments of the countries in the region to establish national working groups on children trafficking.

Representatives of the similar working groups from Albania, Macedonia and Romania spoke at the conference, as well as the representatives of international humanitarian NGOs that work in the field. The NGOs presented their experiences and came out with an estimate that the problem has reached alarming proportions and that coordinated action against the criminal organizations involved is needed. At the same time, the Conference emphasized the need for joint activities of the governments in the region, NGOs and international donors directed at prevention of children trafficking.

From: http://www.oneworld.net/article/view/82546/1/