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In Bosnia and Herzegovina, combating the trafficking of women

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, combating the trafficking of women

In the 1990s, a broken country emerged from the war. In this country of weak institutions and porous borders, people-trafficking thrived under the influence of criminal gangs. Women were particularly vulnerable: they were victims of prostitution rings, exploitation through work or begging, and forced marriages. This has been compounded by the precarious settlement of exiles who want to join the European Union but are blocked at the border due to the tightening of migration policies. A significant number of vulnerable women and unaccompanied children are therefore at risk of becoming victims of violence and succumbing to the control of gangs who promise them work abroad. This situation was recently exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic which increased the amount of time young people spend in front of the screens where these networks operate. 

Medunarodni forum solidarnosti (International Solidarity Forum, ISF), the major Emmaus group in Bosnia-Herzegovina, is greatly involved in combatting human trafficking. In addition to the conventional shelter offered to women, providing a wide range of assistance (shelter, food, prevention actions, training, legal support, etc.), ISF has opened a similar facility for exiled people exposed to human trafficking. The organisation has also developed an intervention unit and tools on digital media: a “safe internet” network, a service platform, online educational seminars, protection applications, a group of young people speaking in schools, participation in ‘Inhope’, an international network which fights against child pornography on the internet.