OSCE campaign warns young people in Kosovo about human trafficking

Kosovo is considered a place of origin, destination and transit for foreign and domestic victims of human trafficking. However, public awareness on the issue is still low.

"Considering that approximately 50 percent of victims are minors, we thought that it is especially important to raise awareness among young people," says Natalia Voronova from the Mission's anti-trafficking section.

To help raise the awareness, the Mission, in co-operation with local NGOs, has developed four regional projects reaching out to more than 2,500 school students. The projects all focus on informing teenagers about the dangers of human trafficking and familiarizing them with the institutions they can turn to if they have any suspicions or information.

In Prishtinë/Pristina region, for example, the OSCE field teams visited primary and secondary schools and screened the film 'Rekrutimi'. "The movie talks about a minor girl, who narrowly escapes becoming a victim of trafficking. Being a locally produced movie, it is having a great effect because it shows that it can happen locally, and the youngsters can identify with the victim," says Voronova.

In Gjilan/Gnjilane, Gjakovë/Dakovica, Pejë/Pec and Prizren, the movie screenings were part of a larger project, which also included public discussions and leaflet distribution, while in Mitrovica/Mitrovicë north, the Mission distributed leaflets in the streets, held radio and TV shows, as well as a roundtable with anti-trafficking stakeholders including the police, social workers, victim advocates, NGOs and representatives of victim shelters.

Explaining the warning signs

"Any activity that is forced upon someone else without his or her will is trafficking," explained police lieutenant Sabit Kabashi, chief of the anti-trafficking section in Prizren during a discussion on 2 December with students in 'Gjon Buzuku' high schools. He also called on students to be aware and report any suspicion they might have.

Jubilea Kabashi, director of a shelter house in Prizren, pointed out where the danger might be coming from. "Streets, relatives, night clubs, these can all be sources of potential threat," she said.

For Ardiana Gashi, a 12th grade student, the debate was something she missed in the past. "I have been a student of Gjon Buzuku for two years now, and we did not have a single lecture on this issue until today." In reponse to her question about what measures could be taken to avoid the traffickers, Jubilea said, "A person should have self-confidence, be emotionally stable, not fall for big promises, and not be easily manipulated."

Better co-operation for more efficiency

Voronova from the OSCE explains that the presence of institutional representatives in the debates is important as it familiarizes youngsters with the institutions and puts faces to their names. But their presence at the debates was also used to strengthen co-operation between different institutions.

"We wanted to bring relevant stakeholders in combating the trafficking together as the implementation of the legislative and operational mechanisms is still challenged by several difficulties, including the lack of co-operation and co-ordination among the relevant institutions," she notes.

To help overcome the lack of co-operation, in addition to joint outreach activities, from June this year the Mission also organized a series of training courses with the local stakeholders focusing on standard operating procedures and minimum standards of care for trafficking victims.

"Combating human trafficking is a complex process and we will continue providing our support with both the outreach to potential victims and with helping improve co-ordination between the local stakeholders," concludes Voronova.