The first Steering Committee meeting of the joint European Union and Council of Europe action “Strengthening anti-trafficking action in Serbia” took place in Belgrade on 23 March 2023.

Tobias Flessenkemper, Head of the Council of Europe Office in Belgrade, and Marina Tomasevic, Co-ordinator in the General Police Directorate, Ministry of the Interior, welcomed the members of the committee.

The new action will build upon the results of the previous two phases and will be implemented in partnership and close co-operation with the Ministry of the Interior, Ministry of Employment, Labour, Veteran and Social Affairs (Centre for Human Trafficking Victims’ Protection and Labour inspectorate), Ministry of Education, NGOs Astra and Atina and Ombudsperson’s office/National Rapporteur on trafficking in human beings.

The action will continue to support the national authorities in their efforts to ensure further compliance with the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings, drawing on specific recommendations by the Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) in relation to Serbia and on needs and priorities of the beneficiaries.

The Steering Committee agreed on the outcomes of the action which are: improving the monitoring and reporting on trafficking in human beings, strengthening the access to justice and remedies for victims of trafficking, enhancing the prevention and action against labour and child trafficking. The activities in direction to these outcomes were presented by the action team. The members of the committee expressed their full support.     

The action "Strengthening anti-trafficking action in Serbia" is implemented under the joint European Union and Council of Europe programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Türkiye”.