The third Steering Committee meeting of the European Union/Council of Europe Horizontal Facility Action “Preventing and combating trafficking in human beings in Serbia” took place in Belgrade on 12 December. The meeting brought together representatives of the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs/Labour Inspectorate, the Centre for Human Trafficking Victims’ Protection, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the European Union Delegation to Serbia as well the non-governmental organisations Astra and Atina.

The Council of Europe project team gave an update on the implemented activities as well as an outlook on future steps. The steering committee members expressed their satisfaction for the achieved results. The National Anti-Trafficking Co-ordinator, who co-chaired the meeting, stressed the importance of the action, in particular with a view to the recently adopted National Anti-Trafficking Strategy 2017-2022 and Action Plan 2017-2018. The representative of the Labour Inspectorate praised the project activities and highlighted the great appreciation of the labour inspectors who had participated in the capacity building multidisciplinary workshops on human trafficking. 

The National Anti-Trafficking Co-ordinator and the Horizontal Facility project team thanked the beneficiaries for their commitment and excellent co-operation in the implementation of the action. The next steering committee meeting will take place in the first half of 2018.