Aiming to support capacity building of judicial professionals in Bosnia and Herzegovina, each year the Council of Europe anti-trafficking project, in collaboration with partners (OSCE BiH, IOM, IFS EMMAUS, and EU4FAST), organizes Panel on trafficking in human beings (in the framework of the annual event „Symposium of Prosecutors“). XVII Annual Symposium of Prosecutors, Panel on trafficking in human beings, held in a period 1-4 September in Neum, gathered 31 professionals among which prosecutors, representatives of law enforcement agencies and academia, as well as international and non-governmental organisations. Each year this event serves as a platform for training, debating criminal justice issues, and the exchange of best practices.

Panel discussion included topics such as referral mechanisms, victims' access to justice, accommodation procedures, safe house operations, as well as victim-centred and trauma informed approaches, the issue of victims' consent, particularly in cyber-related human trafficking cases (for example scam factories).

Prosecutor, Ahmed Mešić, Head of the Department for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings and Illegal Migration at the Prosecutor's Office of BiH pointed out that emerging challenges related to IT-facilitated trafficking pose significant difficulties in collecting digital evidence, while a Workshop on victims' rights, led by Sena Uzunović, Judge at the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as Jelena Hrnjak, representative of NGO Atina from Belgrade provided input on real situations victims face in the first contact with professionals.

Panel on trafficking in human beings is supported by the Council of Europe anti-trafficking project “Strengthening anti-trafficking action in Bosnia and Herzegovina” funded by the voluntary contributions in the framework of the Action Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina (2022-2025).