Training and capacity-building of public order staff to counter trafficking

Project Duration: January 2007 - November 2008

Project Partners: Public Order Unit – Ministry of Interior of Serbia, NGO Anti-trafficking Centre, NGO Atina

Donors: British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO)

The objective of the project was to build the capacities of the Public Order unit – Unit for Suppression of Prostitution, Begging, Child Labour and Vagrancy, the only police unit in Serbia engaged in the above-mentioned issues, to identify and refer victims of trafficking in human beings.

Through this project all Public Order Unit staff has been trained to adequately interview, identify and refer victims of human trafficking but also to serve as future trainers in this field. Besides trainings, project supported a development of small-scale campaigning done in cooperation with NGOs Anti-trafficking Centre and NGO Atina aiming to raise awareness on human trafficking amongst police and their interlocutors but also amongst professionals likely to get in touch with victims of trafficking and possible victims of trafficking. Campaign slogan “Dignity, freedom, law” was intentionally more general than anti-trafficking campaigns usually trying to show the scope of this problem and the issues its victims are faced with. A Manual for professionals tasked with victim identification and referral was produced compiling at one place the inputs from lawyers, criminologists, human rights experts, and psychologists that would all together improve victim identification and treatment, and would improve the overall police work. Technical support component helped improve the working conditions for this important MoI Unit, making Unit’s officers’ work more efficient.

IOM’s principal partner in the project was the Public Order Unit – Unit for Suppression of Prostitution, Begging, Child Labour and Vagrancy, part of the Ministry of Interior. The project was active from January 2007 to November 2008 and was funded by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) with GBP 105,492.

Project Status: Completed