The conclusions of the multidisciplinary Workshop held on 20-21 February 2020, Vrdnik, Serbia, highlighted that the forced labour and trafficking in human beings are global crime phenomena resulting from an abhorrent abuse of dignity and human rights. In order to effectively combat these crimes, joint efforts and co-operation need to be strengthened among labour inspectors, police, social care system, trade unions and NGOs.

Despite the official statistics on the number of identified victims of trafficking in human beings in Serbia (39 victims identified in 2019, 76 victims identified in 2018, 43 victims in 2017 etc.), the real number of victims is considered to be much bigger.

To improve the knowledge and skills of labour inspectors on detecting and identifying cases of human trafficking for the purpose of labour exploitation the workshop in Vrdnik helped to clarify a series of important issues that included explanations on forms of human trafficking, related legal concepts, indicators helping to recognize the signs of trafficking and existing mechanisms of referral and protection of victims.

The workshop was organised using participative approach, using group work and concrete cases of human trafficking for the purpose of labour exploitation, while presenting good practice examples from other countries.

The Action “Preventing and combating trafficking in human beings in Serbia” is a part of the “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey II” - a joint programme of the European Union and the Council of Europe. It aims at assisting beneficiaries in South-East Europe to comply with the Council of Europe standards and European Union acquis in the framework of the enlargement process, where relevant.