As the continuation of the efforts of the joint European Union/Council of Europe action „Preventing and combating trafficking in human beings in Bosnia and Herzegovina“ related to capacity building of labour inspectors in the area of trafficking in human beings in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the third multidisciplinary training on human trafficking for labour exploitation took place from 3 to 5 March in Banja Luka.
Following the epidemiological measures in place, the in-person training for 15 participants was organised. It gathered representatives of the Republic Administration for Inspection Affairs, the Union of Employers of Republika Srpska, the Chamber of Commerce of Republika Srpska, the Ministry of Interior of Republika Srpska, the Ministry of Labor and Veterans' Disability Protection, the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Center for Social Work from Banja Luka, Trade union "Center for Social Work" Laktasi and the Confederation of Trade Unions of Republika Srpska. The Third Training was organised for professionals in Republika Srpska, in co-operation with the Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings in this Entity, and in accordance with the Action Plan for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings in the Republika Srpska.
Participants learned about the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings, the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights under Article 4 of the European Convention on Human Rights, the national anti-trafficking framework and the national victim referral mechanism. The trainings helped in increasing of the participants’ capacities to detect, communicate with and refer potential victims of trafficking to the competent authorities. Just as in the first two trainings, practical exercices offered the possibility to analyse hypothetical trafficking cases and propose approaches and attitudes. Furthermore, gender aspects in human trafficking and good practice in labour inspection from Belgium were presented.
“I consider this training successful. In addition to training, we need a greater number of labour inspectors in the field, which is currently not even close to a sufficient number and does not correspond and reflect the seriousness of the problem of human trafficking", said one of the labour inspectors participating in the training.
The action „Preventing and combating trafficking in human beings in Bosnia and Herzegovina“ is implemented under the joint European Union/Council of Europe programme „Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey 2019-2022“, aiming to assist beneficiaries in South-East Europe to comply with the Council of Europe standards and the European Union acquis in the framework of the enlargement process, where relevant.