In the period from 9 May to 26 June 2022, 25 participants (12 men and 13 women), representatives of the Ministry of Interior, the Labour Inspectorate and trade unions followed the interactive online HELP course on labour trafficking via the Council of Europe HELP platform. 80% of the participants successfully finalised the course and are familiar with the phenomenon of human trafficking for the purpose of labour exploitation.

The professionals went through the domestic and European legal frameworks and good practices to combat labour trafficking and discussed key actors and indicators to identify cases of this sort, with a special focus on the difference between the criminal offense of labour trafficking and violations of labour rights protected by the labour law.

The HELP course had two tutors, Marija Anđelković, Director of NGO ASTRA, and Ivana Krstic, Professor in Law, University of Belgrade.

additional webinar was organised on the case Zoletić and others v. Azerbaijan on 10 June 2022. Sena Uzunovic, prosecutor of the State Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina presented in detail the case which was brought before the European Court of Human Rights and involved workers from Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia and Serbia who were subjected to human trafficking and forced labour in Azerbaijan. She emphasiсed the contribution of the Serbian NGO ASTRA to the collection of evidence about the case.

The course on labour trafficking was very positively evaluated by the participants, who engaged themselves to apply the knowledge and share it with their colleagues. Extensive literature and practical exercises stay available to them for future use.

The action „Preventing and combating trafficking in human beings in Serbia“ is part of the joint European Union/Council of Europe programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey 2019-2022”.