MEETING OF THE TASK FORCE FOR FIGHT AGAINST TRAFFICKING IN HUMAN BEINGS HELD AT THE PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE OF BIH. CONCRETE ACTIVITIES FOR A MORE EFFICIENT PROSECUTION OF THESE CRIMINAL OFFENSES AND FOR OUR COUNTRY’S BETTER STATUS IN INTERNATIONAL REPORTS AG

A meeting of the Task Force for Fight against Trafficking in Human Beings and Illegal Migrations in Bosnia and Herzegovina was held on the premises of the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, where there were discussions about the concrete activities needed for a more efficient prosecution of these criminal offenses, as well as for punishing the perpetrators and providing assistance to the victims.

One of the conclusions from the meeting is that the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina urgently needs to harmonize its criminal legislation and incorporate these criminal offenses in its legislation, since the current situation in which these criminal offenses are not being prosecuted at the level of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina causes damage to the entire Bosnia and Herzegovina and our country’s international reputation and status in regard to detecting, punishing and preventing the trafficking in human beings. Mr. Goran Salihović, the Chief Prosecutor of the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Head of this Task Force, noted that the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina had strengthened its capacities employed in dealing with these cases, as well as that three Prosecutors had been assigned to work intensively with police agencies on detecting and prosecuting the perpetrators of the criminal offenses of trafficking in human beings for the purpose of their sexual or work exploitation, beggary and all other forms of exploitation. The Chief Prosecutor noted that the Indictment against thirteen (13) persons in the case of Vučenović et al., which pertains to the exploitation of over 630 victims during their work in Azerbaijan, was one of the most important steps in the current year in terms of fight against trafficking in human beings, which would surely improve our country’s status in international reports. Moreover, the Chief Prosecutor’s initiation of the joint meeting of the Task Force and all Chief Prosecutors in Bosnia and Herzegovina was announced to ensue very soon. This meeting will be dedicated to the fight against trafficking in human beings and concrete activities needed for a more efficient prosecution of these criminal offenses, punishing the perpetrators and providing assistance to the victims will be discussed. Representatives of the US Embassy in our country stressed that the US Government would provide assistance to the law enforcement agencies in the period to come, by way of organizing education through international experts that would deal with various forms of trafficking in human beings for the purpose of sexual or work exploitation or other forms of exploitation. The Task Force meetings are attended by the representatives of all police agencies in our country, representatives of the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Prosecutor’s Offices of the respective entities and the Prosecutor’s Office of the Brčko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as representatives of the Ministry of Security and the non-governmental sector. This meeting was also attended by Mr. Robert Thomson, Resident Legal Advisor of the US Department of Justice at the US Embassy in Bosnia and Herzegovina.